[Clinical aspects of geriatric psychiatry]

Cause and development of psychic disorders during old age today cannot be explained merely on the basis of a degenerative organic brain process alone but have to be viewed under the aspects of multimorbidity with biologic-somatic factors, biographic and social determined situations as well. The disease of old age does develop in the sense of a multifactorial genesis. Besides that exogenous bodily-factors, e.g. inflammatory disease, cardio-vascular diseases do play an important role. In judging the psychopathology one always has to consider the possibility that the behavior of the sick and old person could be an attempt to adjust to his own reduced abilities to the environmental situation. In view of the multidimensional aspects it became more difficult to categorize the processes of the aged. Single findings will have to be coordinated in the future on various levels in a multidimensional interdisciplinary research effort.