The German Psychogeriatric Association was founded in 1992.

It is a representation of professional activists and institutions, which are dedicated to geriatric psychiatry and work with elderly people. Members are physicians, either as medical practitioner or as clinical residents, consulting physicians, head physicians, public medical officers or some others functions. Non-physician professionals, who are engaged in caring and treatment as well as in research of mentally ill elderly people (e.g psychologists, social workers, scientists, etc.) may be accepted as extra-ordinary members.

Aims of the Society are:

• Establishment of geriatric psychiatry as sub-discipline of general psychiatry (as in some other European countries),
• Implementation of chairs for geriatric psychiatry at university clinics in Germany,
• Development of quality guidelines for geriatric psychiatry and psychotherapy,
• Improvement of frame conditions for mentally ill elderly people and equal ranking of mental and somatic disorders,
• Improvement of preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative measures in geriatric psychiatry,
• Improvement of local service concepts for geriatric patients,
• Proliferation of day-clinics for geriatric psychiatry and expert centers,
• Improvement of continuing education and advanced training in the field of geriatric psychiatry for general practitioners and medical specialists,
• Enhancement of geriatric medicine, geriatric psychiatry and work with the elderly,
• Research on mental disorders in the elderly and implementation of scientific results into practical work.

The German Psychogeriatric Association is member of the Germany Association of the Scientific Medical Societies (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wissenschaftlichen medizinischen Fachgesellschaften AWMF), the International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) and the European Association of Geriatric Psychiatry (EAGP).

If you have any questions, need further information or want to support the work of the German Psychogeriatric Association, please feel free to contact the society ’s office