[Revive the life pulsion: the geriatric psychiatry day care hospital].

Old age with its succession of losses is a vulnerable phase in life for developing or exacerbating mental illnesses. Pragmatically, we can identify three types of senior patients: patients presenting behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, patients affected by a chronic mental illness, patients experiencing a first major psychiatric syndrome in later life. The purpose of this article is to describe the specific programs developed by the day care hospital of the Geriatric Psychiatry Service, Geneva University Hospitals, to respond to the need of these groups of patients as well as their relatives.