International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) International Congress 2015

In the past decade, the field of geriatric mental health has benefited from advances including the promise for a cure of major diseases impacting their patients and their families. Improved understanding of the biology of Alzheimer’s and other dementia causing diseases, late life depression, sleep disorders, anxiety disorders, delirium and others, provides an optimistic view that, at least in some cases, “cures” might be forthcoming in the professional lifetimes of younger IPA members.

At the same time, the well-known “silver tsunami” is a stark reminder of the staggering numbers of older people who will require mental health care in the decades to come. Hence, balancing races for the cure against the undeniable obligation we have as mental health professionals to care for our patients and their families is more prescient today than in the past. In fact, increasingly care and cure are blended in our professional lives such that the most effective interventions of today combine cure and care oriented approaches.