Through this Internship program, you will develop advanced competencies in the application of effective psychosocial interventions and address mental disorders such as Dementia effectively"

The World Health Organization predicts that, over the next few years, the population of people over the age of 60 will double, reaching 2 billion. This demographic aging leads to an increase in age-related neuropsychiatric disorders, which constitutes a major challenge for health care systems on a global scale. In this context, Internship Program in Psychogeriatrics emerges as a crucial discipline to address the mental health needs of the elderly. Given this, it is essential that professionals delve into the latest scientific and practical research in this field, in order to have the most effective tools to optimize the quality of life of older adults.

To support them in this task, TECH has created an exclusive program consisting of a 120-hour stay in a clinical center of reference in the field of Internship Program in Psychogeriatrics. During a period of 3 weeks, the graduates will be part of a team of specialists of the highest level, with whom they will work actively in the management of the different patients who come to their respective consultations during that period. Thanks to this, students will be able to get up to date on the latest techniques in health status assessment and strengthen their skills to provide excellent services.

Throughout the Internship program, graduates will have the support of an assistant tutor, who will ensure that all the requirements for which this Internship program has been designed are met. Thanks to this, the graduates will work with total guarantee and security in the handling of the most innovative clinical technology, as well as in the use of the therapeutic and diagnostic techniques that have had the best results to date.

Through this academic pathway, professionals in Internship Program in Psychogeriatrics will have a solid knowledge of the biopsychosocial aspects of aging and mental health in the elderly. In this way, specialists will have a comprehensive understanding of the main mental disorders that affect these users (such as Dementia, Depression or Anxiety). Likewise, graduates will perform comprehensive evaluations of the clinical status of their patients to assess their cognitive, emotional and functional condition. In tune with this, experts will design and implement individualized treatment plans to address the specific needs of this population.

General Objectives

• Provide the student with knowledge of the infinite complexity of old age
• Provide skills to deal with the psychological state of the elderly
• Learn how to design multidisciplinary intervention protocols for old age 
• Master the assessment, differential diagnosis and intervention in old age.
• Provide the skills to support individuals in old age from the here and now
• Describe and teach the knowledge required to face illnesses related to ageing and their relationship with the life lived

Specific Objectives

• Manage the specific characteristics of old age and their consequences on human behavior
• Assess and diagnose, taking into account the social and affective surrounding in which the elderly person finds themselves
• Train in listening and managing silence with elderly patients
• Perform and adapt intervention protocols within an interdisciplinary framework
• Develop psychosocial intervention protocols, taking into account the role of the patient in their family
• Gain knowledge of the mutations and new types of illness at this age
• Elaborate life histories as the objective of treatment in old age and not as tool as is done in other age groups
• Understand and master the therapeutic situation in order to become a referent for a elderly person
• Provide skills to understand and relate to the loss of patients, and from there to accompany them in the transition
• Understand and identify the differential aspects of mental disorders at this age
• Know the clinical and prognostic features of the various disorders of old age
• Master and manage the interferences of aging in the mental disorders to be treated
• Learn intervention tools that use the patient's senses as a setting
• Learn the appropriate dynamics for intervention in the elderly
• Update concepts about the aging brain
• Reposition the therapy towards a regressive and not so much progressive direction in the patient's mental timeline
• Describe and design protocols with patients who take multiple drugs for different chronic disorders
• Have the ability to include occupational therapy and psychomotor skills in all intervention protocols
• Provide resources mediation and negotiation skills on benign aspects that are overvalued in the elderly

You will incorporate into your praxis cutting-edge strategies to address various behavioral problems linked to mental disorders in elderly users, such as agitation or aggression"