About

About the Congress

In the past decade, the field of geriatric mental health has benefited from advances including the promise of a cure of major diseases impacting our 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. 

This year's IPA Congress places the balance between care and cure at the center of our professional deliberations. We will be selecting an interdisciplinary program of keynote, plenaries, symposia, free communication and poster sessions on topics that encompass the broad spectrum of Psychogeriatrics ranging from understanding exciting basic research methods, to focus on resilience and prevention, to blended interventions. These are just a few of the interesting and thought-provoking subjects that will be explored and discussed at the 2024 International Congress.