[Possibilities and problems in the rehabilitation of aged patients with mental illness (author's transl)].

In the Federal Republic of Germany as in other Western Countries institutions suitable for the rehabilitation of aged patients with mental illness are lacking. As long as "psychiatry of the higher age" is synonymous to "psychiatry of demented patients" the term "rehabilitation" means only a slogan, not a maxime. Jurisdiction in the Supreme Court though, has shown the way of going on. It will depend also on the attitude of the doctors in charge of the patients to fulfill the expectations posed in that jurisdiction and to reach so the far set marks in the interest of the patients. Big institutional deficits have to be ameliorated as far as possible; of prime importance here is the necessity to place the opportunities for the employment of qualified employees. Rehabilitation instead of custodial care here is synonymous for efficiency and humanity. The change from an obsolete and nonorganized "system" of care to a modern network of rehabilitation should be obtained by voluntary cooperation and by voluntary coordination of medical and social institutions. So an integration of all possibilities of help to a network could be reached.