[Research on public mental health in the German-speaking area].

OBJECTIVE

From the point of view of public mental health, research on mental disorders still leads a shadowy existence in the German-speaking countries. The aim of this work is to determine the state of affairs of research in this field based on the publications in scientific journals.

METHOD

Including the German and international journals listed in the Science Citation Index (SCI) and the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) for the psychosocial field, a systematic search was done for the year 2003.

RESULTS

The majority of public mental health research in the German-speaking countries is focused on a few institutions only. Particularly for Germany, clear-cut regional distinctions can be found. While there is a large amount of mental health care research and attitudinal research, only a small amount of the research is focused on prevention and health economics.

CONCLUSION

Our analysis indicates future avenues of research. There is legitimate hope that existing gaps will be overcome in the future.