[Psyche and soma: what can the consultation-liaison psychiatrist contribute?]

In German speaking countries, during the last decades, we can see a growing, though albeit small, integration of psychiatry and psychosomatics into (somatic) medicine. This article outlines the importance of the growing number of elderly patients in medical care as a vantage point for c-l-psychiatrists to play a pro-active role in implementing adequate structures and processes for diagnostics and treatment of this patient group. It is argued that delirium (in dementia) can and should be regarded as a paradigm for a biopsychosocial disorder sui generis. In addition, aspects of the cl-psychiatrists role at two important interfaces of somatic and psychological medicine, i.e. primary care and emergency rooms, are highlighted. Finally, some information about the development of the professionalization of cl-psychiatry in Europe is given.