[Psychosocial rehabilitation in advanced age]

The psychosocial rehabilitation of older persons is one of the main problems in health policy. About one quarter of the over 65-year-olds face psychic problems, without, to a large extent, receiving adequate treatment and rehabilitative care. Substantial deficits exist above all in the out-patient and non-residential service sectors. In in-patient care, existing methods for psychosocial intervention (such as psychoanalysis, behavioural, client-centered, family, Gestalt, milieu, or music and dance therapy, psychodrama, reality orientation training, or resensitization techniques) are hardly ever used. This absence of applied geronto-psychology is attributable to the shortcomings of available assessment methods, multiple methodical problems of intervention research, and--above all--to insufficient staff positions for psychosocial professions in the gerontological sector. Provision of further permanent posts for psychosocial workers; development of age-specific assessment methods; interdisciplinary and systematic interventional research; the development of ambulatory, community-based services as well as intensive support for existing self-help efforts are therefore called for.