The "German Alliance Against Depression (Deutsches Bündnis gegen Depression e.V.)" emerged in the framework of the "German Research Network on Depression and Suicidality", a large scaled nation-wide research network initiated and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Insufficiently treated depression is one of the most relevant reasons for suicide. By initiating parallel interventions on four different levels, the action-oriented "German Alliance Against Depression" aims at the improvement of care for depressed patients. By this means overall suicidality should be reduced also. The four levels are: 1) co-operation with general practitioners, 2)public relations campaign, 3) community facilitators and 4) support fpr self-help of patients and their relatives. The project has been tested in the city of Nuremberg for the first time. The results have been promising and indicate a decrease in suicidality.
Compared to the 1-year-baseline (2000) and a control-region (Würzburg), a reduction of suicidal behaviour (24 percent) was found for both years. Confirmatory statistics reveal that the reduction of suicidal behaviour was not only clinically relevant but also statistically significant for 2001 and 2002.
Research within the German Alliance Against Depression concernes with evaluating the four-level intervention approach: Evaluation of changes in the amount of suicidal behaviour (suicide attempts plus suicides) and of changes in public awareness and prejudice concerning depression.
