Mental health and the older patient: what is the role of cyberpsychiatry?
This talk will discuss the increased demand for dedicated old age psychiatry services as life expectancy increases and whether cyberpsychiatry will have a greater role in the future.
Mental health and well-being are as important in older age as at any other time of life. The most common mental and neurological disorders in the older age group are dementia and depression. Other mental health problems include delirium, schizophrenia, and personality disorder.
Speaker: Dr Sudip Sikdar
Recorded: 4 November 2021
Price: FREE to register
Description: There are significant differences in mental health problems in older adults compared to the younger population, meaning there is a great need for specialised skills to manage these problems effectively.
This talk will discuss the increased demand for dedicated old age psychiatry services as life expectancy increases. Old age psychiatrists are doctors who provide specialised and holistic assessment, treatment, and continuing care for older adults (or those with similar needs) who suffer from a range of mental health problems and disorders including depression and dementia.
It will also debate the role of cyberpsychiatry in the future. Cyberpsychiatry takes on many forms in the service of mental disorders. Virtual reality, telepsychiatry, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and chatbot therapists are some of the many examples of how technology’s role in the world of psychiatry is growing.
About the speaker
Dr Sudip Sikdar
Dr Sudip Sikdar has been a consultant in old age psychiatry at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust since 2001. He is an Honorary Research Fellow in the University of Liverpool and an executive committee member of the old age faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and serves as the finance officer and outcome lead for the faculty. He is also an executive committee member of the Public Mental Health Network of the college.