The Australasian Society for Bipolar Disorders has decided to convene its 2009 conference in Brisbane from 22-24 October. This will be the fourth meeting under the umbrella of the ASBD following previously very successful conferences hosted in Sydney and Melbourne. The theme for this conference will be Stabilising Mood: 60 years of progress.

The venue will be the landmark Sofitel Brisbane Grand Central which is conveniently situated above Brisbane's Central Station, overlooking the scenic parks of ANZAC Square War Memorial and Post Office Square at the very centre of the city.

Bipolar disorder is a severe and debilitating mental illness, which requires an ongoing awareness in an informed society as well as continuing attention from researchers, practitioners, government, and private funding agencies. This conference aims to cover a broad range of scientific and clinical issues related to Bipolar Disorders and seeks to create an alliance between researchers, teachers, practitioners and clinicians from the scientific community worldwide. Invited international speakers include Dr Francesc Colom, Joseph Goldberg MD and Roy Chengappa MD.

On this 60^th Anniversary of Dr John F J Cade; Lithium salts in the treatment of psychotic excitement. (Medical Journal of Australia 1949), we seek to feature the latest developments that have enhanced our understanding of bipolar disorder and improved clinical outcome as well as reflect improvement in management of bipolar disorder over the past 60 years.