The RKI monitors the mental health of Germany’s population. A dedicated national Mental Health Surveillance (MHS) has been in development since 2019 and is currently being integrated into a superordinate Noncommunicable Disease Surveillance (NCD Surveillance). The establishment of the MHS has taken place in three project phases funded by the Federal Ministry of Health.

The aim of the MHS is to provide systematic and continuous reporting on a selection of core indicators of mental health in Germany’s population. Time series consisting of regular estimates for these indicators are the basis of reliable and up-to-date assessments on the state and development of the mental health of the population.

Contact: mhs@rki.de

Concepts

• A scoping review provides an overview of public mental health indicators for adult populations used internationally. A corresponding review on child and adolescent mental health indicators is in preparation.
• A public mental health framework comprising a set of core indicators for MHS in Germany was decided upon in a consensus building process involving national and international experts. It is a future aim to expand this set to include indicators specific to childhood and adolescence as well as old age.
• Three strategies of MHS (regular assessments, high-frequency surveillance and continuous literature review) have been developed.

Current information: MHS Dashboard

A dashboard with monthly updates shows developments in the mental health of adults in Germany on the basis of continuously collected survey data.

Mental Health Surveillance Dashboard

More information on methods and descriptions as well as discussion of results are available in the form of quarterly reports and peer-reviewed publications:

• NCD Surveillance Report (German language)
• Publication on results for April 2019 to June 2022
• Publication on results for June 2022 to May 2023
• Publication on methods

Further findings

• Developments in the national diagnostic prevalence of mental disorders 2012-2021 were analysed in collaboration with the Central Research Institute of Ambulatory Health Care in Germany (“Zentralinstitut für die kassenärztliche Versorgung in Deutschland (Zi)”). A paper detailing these results was submitted for publication. A previous publication provides results on trends in ambulatory depression diagnoses 2009-2017.
• Please see the KIDA Study for results on the development of select indicators of child and adolescent mental health.
• Multiple reviews collate findings on changes in population mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. A rapid review summarizes findings for the adult population based on studies published before August 1st, 2022. Throughout 2022, a continuous literature review with monthly reports was conducted; a publication is in preparation. A rapid review on findings for children and adolescents based on studies published before November 20th, 2021 was also conducted by the RKI’s Mental Health Unit.
• The Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale was validated in a German nationally representative sample for the purpose of future use within the MHS. General population reference values will be provided shortly.