[Gerontopsychiatry and nursing science. Similarities and differences].

In the following article, two of the increasingly important public health scientific disciplines of care for the elderly are compared under systematic aspects - gerontopsychiatry and nursing science - with the aim of determining the similarities and differences of both disciplines. There follows a discussion of social challenges facing the area of caring for the elderly suffering from psychiatric illnesses and the responsibilities which both disciplines have to cope with in the future. The clearing of the numerous existent geronto-psychiatric deficits in health care in Germany seems to be the main challenge.