GER‹ATR‹K PS‹K‹YATR‹'DE EN SIK KARfiILAfiILAN SORUNLAR VE TEMEL YAKLAfiIM ‹LKELER‹ * BASIC PRINCIPLES IN THE EVALUATION OF THE MOST COMMON CLINICAL PROBLEMS IN GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY

*Summary Dementia, delirium and depression are the most common problems in geriatric psychiatry practice. Concerning the increase of the proportion of the elderly in the general population, one can predict that patients with this kind of problems will be more commonly encountered by physicians. Due to difficulties in diagnosis, but also possibilities of life saving approaches in the evaluation, first contact in family practice with these patients is very important. It is usually possible to help these patients in family practice without referring them to more experienced centres. In this paper, general principles in evaluation and therapy of these conditions which could be useful in family practice are summarised.