A two-day national conference on geriatric mental health, organised by the Department of Psychiatry at NIMHANS in association with the Indian Association for Geriatric Mental Health (IAGMH), concluded on Saturday.

The conference titled ‘GERON 2024’ – organised to explore recent trends, research and collaborations in geriatric mental health – also marked the 25th anniversary of the Geriatric Clinic at NIMHANS. The clinic was launched in October 1999.

The highlight of the conference was a public engagement activity that was attended by nearly 150 older adults from various senior citizen forums. A team from NIMHANS delivered health education talks to enhance their knowledge of healthy ageing and other geriatric-related conditions. The conference with the theme ‘Geriatric Mental Health in India: Past, Present and Future’ also saw over 350 participants from psychiatry, psychology, psychiatric social work, nursing, and other allied specialties. 

Discussions on issues such as neuropsychological assessment, digital use among senior citizens, cognitive behavioural therapy, geriatric mental health nursing and dementia care, promoting geriatric psychiatry clinical service, training and research, non-invasive brain stimulation, neuroimaging, delirium, managing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and comprehensive geriatric assessment were part of the ten scientific workshops held at the conference.

Stalls exhibiting various services for senior citizens, including NIMHANS geriatric clinic, TELEMANAS, Molecular Genetics Lab, Brain Bank, and research projects related to ageing were put up. 

During the inauguration, the founders of the Geriatric Clinic in NIMHANS, Prof. Mathew Varghese and Prof. Srikala Bharath, and Prof. S C Tiwari, Founder President of IAGMH, were felicitated. Padma Shri Prof. C.R. Chandrashekar, other donors and collaborators who have made significant philanthropic contributions to the Geriatric clinic at NIMHANS were also honoured.