[Psychotherapy in senile dementia?!]

Psychotherapy for senile demented patients is feasible and should become a routine. However, it must be integrated psychotherapy that is not school-centred but patient-centered. Especially in the work with senile demented patients it must closely cooperate with all health professions that are in the field. These endeavours must be systematically coordinated. Analytic psychotherapy in the classical sense is not feasable. However, in old (and demented) patients sometimes a strong desire persists to tell out of the past. The therapist's task there is mainly listening and not interpreting. Children, animals, plush-animals, music and dance-therapy are not so well-known possibilities to find a psychotherapeutic approach to senile demented persons. The basic psychotherapy should be known to all health professions. Professional psychotherapy should be given more attention as to the psychotherapy of old people.