History
In 1971 as the world wide first association of Geriatric Psychiatry the EAGP was founded as an informal association of psychiatrists, neurologists, neuropathologists, psychologists and sociologists from various European Countries with a special interest in the field of geriatric psychiatry and in 1987 the EAGP became a registered association. A few years later the Association of European Psychiatrists (AEP) founded a section of old age psychiatry in Geneva and both organizations decided that executive members of the EAGP automatically become members of the AEP.
After the fall of the iron curtain, many of the colleagues in Eastern Europe wanted to join the EAGP. To support this the Association set up an East fund to grant free membership to colleagues from the former socialist countries. Thanks to a generous sponsor, the EAGP was able to announce an annual research award for Eastern European members. Additional cooperations were built with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Association of Psychiatry (WPA), the International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) and the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) and several papers were published with presidents of the EAGP as collaborating or leading authors.
Since 2000 the promotion of education in Geriatric Psychiatry across Europe has been the leading purpose of the EAGP as highlighted by three papers:
2003 together with the World Health Organization (WHO)and the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) the EAGP published the paper “Skill-based objectives for specialist training in old age psychiatry” with its president Lars Gustafson as leading author that can be seen as an international basis of education in Geriatric Psychiatry.
Gustafson L, Burns A, Katona C, Bertolote JM, Camus V, Copeland JR, Dufey AF, Graham N, Ihl R, Kanowski S, Kühne N. Skill‐based objectives for specialist training in old age psychiatry. International journal of geriatric psychiatry. 2003 Aug;18(8):686-93.
In 2012 the EAGP published “ A survey of geriatric psychiatry training across Europe” showing the progress of the education and training in 30 countries Europe. Toot S, Orrell M, Rymaszewska J, Ihl R. A survey of geriatric psychiatry training across Europe. International Psychogeriatrics. 2012 May;24(5):803-8.
Then in 2015 the EAGP published a paper on “The state of psychogeriatrics in Europe: challenges and opportunities in six European countries” describing the developments of Geriatric Psychiatry in Europe.
Fernandes L, Mateos R, Engedal K, von Gunten A, Stek ML, Ramakrishnan A, Ihl R, Wang H, Mintzer J, Brodaty H. The state of psychogeriatrics in Europe: challenges and opportunities in six European countries. International psychogeriatrics. 2015 Aug;27(8):1243-6.
In the last decade the EAGP has developed its educational provisions with international courses for geriatric psychiatry trainees in Lausanne every 2 years and refresher courses based in Leuven and Nottingham for senior geriatric psychiatrists, plus we have had an extensive range of webinars and contributed to many congresses with EAGP symposia, and in 2021 we celebrated our 50th anniversary with a special Jubilee Congress. In accordance with the aspirations of its founders, the EAGP aims to continue shaping and supporting the future of the speciality in Europe to help develop national organisations and provide a unifying collaboration across borders.
The formal description of the intention of the EAGP can be found under RULES.
