Arkansas Psychiatric Society

The Arkansas Psychiatric Society (APS) is a district branch of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), whose mission is to promote universal and equitable access to mental health care, promote psychiatric education and training, and support and serve the professional needs of its members.

The APA was established in 1844 as the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, changing its name to the American Psychiatric Association in 1921. As time went on, district branches began to organize in states across the country, and in the early 1950s, with the encouragement of Dr. Daniel Blane, the medical director for the APA, psychiatrists in Arkansas created their own district branch. The first formal action to form Arkansas’s district branch was in 1951 when Dr. William G. Reese, the chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at what is now the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), asked the committee to create a constitution for an Arkansas Psychiatric Society. The first organizational meeting for the Arkansas Psychiatric Society was held on October 19, 1951, at the Arkansas State Psychiatric Hospital.

The Arkansas Psychiatric Society was its own entity, separate from the American Psychiatric Association, until 1955 when the society petitioned the APA for district branch approval. After this, the society was recognized as being part of the APA and, as a result, was able to participate in annual meetings held by the parent organization. The APS made its first appearance at an annual meeting in 1956, with Dr. Allie Carl (A. C.) Kolb as president of the society. The Arkansas Psychiatric Society remained active during the early years of growing interest in psychiatry throughout the country but began to fall into inactivity in the late 1970s.

Members of the society pushed for efforts to reenergize the organization in the later part of the 1980s, and the resulting spark of interest and activity continue. In the twenty-first century, the Arkansas Psychiatric Society operates as a specialty under the parent Arkansas Medical Society (AMS) and continues to promote and advocate for both medical practitioners and patients in the field of psychiatry. Annual conferences allow members to share new research and findings, contribute to the advancement of mental health aid, and discuss policies and legislation that would benefit both doctors and patients.

For additional information:
“Arkansas Psychiatric Society.” Arkansas Medical Society. https://www.arkmed.org/arkansas-psychiatric-society/ (accessed April 2, 2026).

Ozarin, Lucy, and Gary McMillan. “APA History.” American Psychiatric Association. https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Psychiatrists/Directories/Library-and-Archive/history/archive-brief-chronological–APA_history_LOGM_201406.pdf (accessed April 2, 2026).

Mikaela Bailey
University of Arkansas at Little Rock