Ars longa, Vita brevis

Hello Readers, 

As I was browsing through Hippocratic era literature in the bibliothèque last week,I came across this phrase in Latin. It is a Latin version of a Greek proverb which goes like this, “The full quotation, in Latin, is “Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, judicium difficile.” This can be rendered into English as “life is short, the art (craft/skill) long, opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgement difficult”. The aphorism quotes the first few lines of the Aphorismi by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. Some literati further explain that a piece of art lives longer than humanity, but the life of the creator is limited as humans die at a certain point. 

Through my experience at the World Network of Psychiatric Trainees, I learnt that budding psychiatrists should make strengthening their armamentorium their utmost priority. The art for the psychiatrist translates to clinical skills one learns during the training. As the saying goes,”Sweat more in training so that you bleed less in war”. It is crucial to understand that training needs of the trainees need to be paid due attention, especially in these unprecedented times. The Global Psychiatric Association (GPA) was conceived with the same motto in mind, so that trainee members should be well equipped with Clinical skills and knowledge to tackle their career related challenges. The world is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and is now under the threat of another pandemic i.e the monkeypox. The learning loss during the COVID pandemic was enormous, more so in the developing countries who were economically disadvantaged. The colleges were shut down, classes suspended, no regular lectures for about a year. I am of the strong opinion that this learning loss in the training years does have a negative impact. This is especially so in case of psychiatry, as our art (ars) is in the interview, along with behavioral observation during the interview, which can be best observed in face to face interview. 

Global Psychiatric Association pledges to stay committed to the training needs even in unprecedented times and more so wishes to give a platform for the young budding trainees to be represented for their talents. GPA stands true to its core virtues, with no bureautic roadblocks to representation and recognition. Because as the Greeks say “Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, judicium difficile” 

Viva GPA! 

• Rohit Walwaikar, MD, DNB