German Center for Mental Health

The perception of the serious individual and societal consequences of mental illness is the basis for the German Center for Mental Health (DZPG). These consist of the enormous burden on 17.8 million patients and their families in Germany per year, low access to treatment for those affected and, as a consequence, increased mortality and annual costs of €44 billion caused by untreated or inadequately treated individuals. Therefore, with the DZPG, the BMBF has established another health center, which, with its focus on translational health research, ensures that innovative therapeutic approaches are generated and enter the care system in a timely manner to close the development of new, effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment methods for mental illnesses. In addition, the DZPG is expected to find solutions to the unacceptable societal inequities in the care of people with mental illness. These exist both in the "horizontal perspective," such as between rural and urban living environments, and in "vertical contexts," such as with regard to vulnerable groups (e.g., people without jobs or people with a migration background, who are particularly affected by mental illness and find it more difficult to access care services).
The DZPG is establishing an ambitious translational research program that aims to focus on promoting mental health and resilience, increase awareness of mental illness, and reduce the burden of mental illness across all age groups over the next 15 years. The main partners in the DZPG are the six sites and the representatives of the Center Council (an association of affected individuals and their families in the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) infrastructure). The research program is structured around three research domains (Domain I: Risk factors in early development, especially trauma and early stressors; Domain II: Investigation and improvement of psychosocial, psychotherapeutic, pharmacological and neuromodulatory interventions and their combination in transdiagnostic patient groups; Domain III: Prevention, participation and recovery in relevant living environments). Based on these thematic priorities, the DZPG has developed three Flagship (FL) projects (Flagship I (FLI): risk factors and prevention programs for mental illness in an urban setting; Flagship II (FLII) network of early intervention centers; Flagship III (FLIII): Stepped Care Approaches for low-threshold support services to vulnerable populations).