[Admission of elderly patients in psychiatry: a study on the topic of "misplacement"]

Misplacement of the old in psychiatry gains in special importance based on the absolute and relative increase of this population. 117 patients have been announced for admission to the psychogeriatric department of the Zwiefalten State Mental Hospital within six months. Admission of 47 patients did not happen mostly as the result of advising the announcing person or refusing because of pure social indication. The remaining 70 patients and further 16 emergency patients have been admitted to the department of them about two thirds with cerebro-organic syndromes and one third with other mental diseases in old age. Mostly family doctors organized the hospitalisation, psychiatrists have been rarely engaged. In spite of severe reasons for hospitalisation, clinical treatment of patients with cerebro-organic syndromes turned out to be avoidable in more of the half of the cases, whereas it was justified in nearly 80% of the patients with other mental diseases in old age. As a whole, approximately the half of our admitted old patients would have not needed clinical treatment if there would exist enough qualified social care facilities, information deficits of the family doctors could be removed, and if psychiatrists would engage more in the treatment of mentally ill old persons.