Depression is currently the most prevalent disease in most EU countries. By 2030, it is estimated to  be the most prevalent disease worldwide. Crucial questions about the optimal regiment for depression are nevertheless unanswered. Many research topics can only be clarified if several centers, academic and non-academic, work together in a coordinated manner.
Berlin is currently the leading science-based health region in Germany and offers an efficient network between translational research and curative health care. The region unites many psychiatric clinics in close proximity to each other and thus has excellent conditions for networked and powerful research in the field of depression.

The main pillars of the Berlin Scientific Network on Depression include Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, one of Europe's leading university hospitals, and Vivantes, Germany's largest public hospital company. Thus, physicians from 12 participating centers can not only conduct research together, but can also continuously exchange information on scientific issues, pursue their own scientific ambitions, produce publications, and jointly contribute to medical progress and the translation of findings into practice.

The Scientific Network Depression thus takes up an essential impulse of the master plan "Health Region Berlin-Brandenburg".