Mitteilungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Neuropsychopharmakologie und Pharmakopsychiatrie (AGNP)

Introduction

Unlike other widespread diseases, psychiatric disorders and their socio-economic consequences have long been underestimated. They even show an increasing occurrence tendency despite the development of new drugs and therapeutic strategies.

One of the reasons for this is the dramatic rise in life expectancy and hence in the proportion of the retired population in the Federal Republic of Germany, which has increased from 4.8 to 9.5 million from 1950 to 1980 [8]. Consequently, this has led to a higher prevalence of age-related disorders, especially dementia and depression.

According to conservative estimates, the point prevalence - the morbidity rate at a defined time point - is about 14.6 %, which means that 11.5 million out of 80 million people in Germany suffer from a psychiatric disease [13].

The costs for treatment of psychic disorders in Europe were estimated to account for around DM 100 billion [11], not including the indirect costs incurring through disability and social welfare services. About a fifth of the total health care expenses in Germany are spent on the treatment of psychiatric disorders.

In this context, clinical and preclinical neurobiological researchers have succeeded in directing the emphasis of research funding to the support of brain research. In the United States, the then President, George Bush, declared the 90 s the Decade of the Brain, and the Human Frontier Science Programme was launched in Japan. Both initiatives have boosted the funding of neuroscience research projects on a wide scale. In 1992, the European Decade of Brain Research was called into existence in order to support the cooperation between European neuroscientific research centres.

Germany, however, did not launch a separate national “Decade of the Brain” programme, but substantially increased the funding of neuropsychiatric research - especially within the Federal Government’s programme “Health Research 2000.”

In the following, the current scientific programmes in psychiatry-related neurosciences are summarised. The emphasis lies on those projects that are sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), but also on institutes outside the universities, such as the Max Planck Institutes, the Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (WGL, short: Leibniz Institutes, which receive 50 % of their budget from the Government and 50 % from the respective federal state in which they are located), the Helmholtz Centres (which receive 90 % of their budget from the Government and 10 % of the respective state) and the Federal Institutes, which will be described with respect to their function and relation to neuropsychiatric research.

It should be mentioned, however, that there is also a considerable number of foundations in Germany which actively support psychiatric and neuroscience research programmes, such as the Volkswagen Foundation, the Sander Foundation, and the Schilling Foundation, but they will not be specifically covered in this report.

References

• 1 Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (Hrsg.) Außeruniversitäre Einrichtungen der Gesundheitsforschung in Deutschland. Die mit Bundesmitteln institutionell geförderten Einrichtungen. Überarbeitete Fassung von Harald zur Hausen unter Mitarbeit von Cornelia Tesch und Cornelia Kirchner. Projektträger Gesundheitsforschung des Bundesministeriums für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie 1997
• 2 Holsboer F. Bestandsaufnahme der Forschung in der Neurologie, Psychiatrie und Klinischen Psychologie. Materialien zur Gesundheitsforschung. Schriftenreihe zum Programm der Bundesregierung Gesundheitsforschung 2000. Band 26. Herausgegeben vom Projektträger des BMFT “Forschung im Dienste der Gesundheit” 1994
• 3 Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung .Bundesbericht Forschung. 2000
• 4 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft .Jahresbericht 2000. Aufgaben und Ergebnisse. Band 1. 
• 5 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft .Jahresbericht 2000. Programme und Projekte. Band 2. 
• 6 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft .Perspektiven der Forschung und ihrer Förderung. Aufgaben und Finanzierung 1997-2001. Wiley-VCH 1997
• 7 zur Hausen H, Holsboer F, Selbmann H -K. Gesundheitsforschung in Deutschland. Die mit Bundesmitteln institutionell geförderten Einrichtungen. Verlag W. Kohlhammer 1994
• 8 Häfner H. Psychische Gesundheit im Alter. Fischer-Verlag 1986: 7-20
• 9 Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V .Guide to the Max Planck Institutes 2000. 
• 10 Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V .Jahresbericht 1999. 
• 11 Programm der “European Decade of Brain Research,” CEC, Task Force, Rev. Feb. 8, 1993. 
• 12 Vorhabensübersicht, Forschungsprogramm Gesundheitsforschung 2000, Projektträger des Bundesminsteriums für Bildung und Forschung. 
• 13 Wittchen H -U, Ahmoi Essau C, von Zerssen D, Krieg J -C, Zaudig M. Lifetime and Six-Month Prevalence of Mental Disorders in the Munich Follow-Up Study.  Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1992;  241 247-258