[Medical graduate and continuing education in gerontopsychiatry and psychotherapy]

Continuous medical training in psychogeriatrics and in psychotherapy with the elderly is in need of improvement in many respects. There are, however, manyfold efforts to theoretically and practically mediate the state of the art in the course of medical further training. We present a model of psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care for the elderly in continuous medical training which is already a basic component in many psychiatric training facilities, aimed at providing each and every board certified psychiatrist and neurologist with adequate psychogeriatric competency. Growing knowledge in this field doubtlessly requires the development of a respective academic sub-specialty. Training facilities not only for psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and neurologists, but also for various other medical disciplines, in particular for general practitioners, as well as for nonmedical professionals in the field of care for the elderly have increased in recent years. As an example we point to the Gerontological Forum.