The new German Center for Mental Health (DZPG) has started its work. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim coordinates one of six excellent locations in the DZPG throughout Germany and provides one of the spokespersons, Prof. Dr. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, Head of the CIMH Executive Board and Medical Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. Together with the Universities of Heidelberg and Ulm and the German Cancer Research Center, the CIMH forms the research network ZI-HUb, which was successful in the application phase. In addition to Mannheim (with Heidelberg and Ulm), Berlin (with Potsdam), Bochum (with Marburg), Halle (with Jena and Magdeburg), Munich (with Augsburg) and Tübingen are represented in the DZPG. 

Preventing chronic progression

The aim of the new center is to conduct interdisciplinary research into the development and course of mental illnesses over the life span. Individual risk and protective factors are to be identified. The aim is to develop personalized therapies that can prevent the onset and chronic course of mental illness. The focus in Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ulm is on particularly critical periods in the life span, such as traumatic experiences in childhood and adolescence. 

Environmental factors relevant

Since research has identified numerous environmental factors as relevant in addition to biological causes, the DZPG intends to use these findings to develop and implement targeted interventions. To this end, the DZPG will establish distributed infrastructures for research. Here, ZI-HUb supports joint activities in digital technologies, bioinformatics and biobanks, and in early phase clinical trials at the ZIPP Therapy Research Center. A special feature of the DZPG is that affected persons and relatives are involved in the research design throughout.