Project aims to improve prevention and treatment of mental disorders

A new investigation has been launched by the Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz in Germany that seeks to better understand mental health during the transition from school and adolescence to working life.

The scientists hope to be able to identify significant protection mechanisms in the brain and related characteristics, in addition to mental abilities that provide for psychological resilience. The long term objective of the Mainz Resilience Project (MARP) is to develop effective prevention programmes that will bring alleviation to individuals and reduce the associated economic and social costs.

The project is recruiting young, healthy people who, in order to document their mental health and the stress factors to which they are exposed over time, the researchers will monitor the subjects for several years. MARP is an example of a core Gutenberg Brain Study (GBS) associated project, which collectively are investigating genetic imaging and neural resilience mechanisms. The projects are receiving third-party funding from the European Research Council.