Evolution of research in geriatric psychiatry

Abstract

During the past 30 years the knowledge base of geriatric psychiatry has grown exponentially to replace the folklore and myths which for many years pervaded the as yet undefined field of geriatric psychiatry. The advances in geriatric psychiatry, as with many areas of medicine, have been fostered by the appearance of sophisticated technologies including analytic chemistry techniques, functional and structural brain‐imaging studies and molecular biology. However, many of these advances could not have been achieved without the supported initiatives in education and research in geriatric psychiatry by major agencies such as the National Institute of Mental Health Center for Studies of Mental Health of the Aging and the National Institute for Aging. For example, the number of geriatric specialty training programs in the United States increased to more than 30 between 1978 and 1989 as compared to the existence of only one prior to 1978 in the setting of a medical school (Cohen, 1989). These clinical and research training programs continue to the present day and are not only the source of the future researchers in geriatric psychiatry but also the ‘centres’ of research activity in areas such as the mood disorders, dementias, late onset schizophrenia, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders of the elderly which are reviewed in this issue of the Journal.