Epidemiology of aggression and violence in mental disorders and the approach of TRR 379
Aggression in mental disorders (AMD) poses a challenge for everyday clinical practice and has far-reaching societal implications. The biological foundations of the different manifestations, developmental trajectories, and transdiagnostic and disorder-specific deficits remain largely unknown. One reason for the apparent lack of understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying AMD is the heterogeneity of both aggression and mental disorders themselves. This, in turn, hinders progress in developing effective prevention and intervention strategies. Therefore, a collaborative approach between clinical and experimental neuroscientists is required to address this issue comprehensively and in a multimodal manner. The proposed initiative aims to advance knowledge on the biological bases of AMD and its developmental course. The Transregional Collaborative Research Center 379 (TRR) will follow the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, investigating multiple aspects that characterize aggression: genetic and molecular mechanisms as well as hormonal, neural, and associated behavioral systems. Thus, the TRR aims to identify biosignatures of AMD based on multidimensional pathways that underlie the different manifestations of aggression to enable the development of tailor-made biosignature-specific prevention and intervention.
Authors
- Jana Zweerings (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5724-1054)
- Wolfgang Kelsch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3470-8125)
- Klaus Mathiak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2276-7726)
- Christine Ecker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1003-5931)
- Lisa Wagels (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4874-4474)
- Natalia Chechko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9226-6196)
- Ute Habel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0703-7722)
- Heike Tost (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7339-7569)
- Aet O’Leary (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6783-4729)
- Kerstin Konrad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9039-2615)
- Andreas Reif (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0992-634X)
- U. Habel
- Katja Bertsch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9177-9010)
- Wolfgang Retz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8582-3414)
- Wolfgang Weber‐Fahr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3503-7041)
- Corinne Neukel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7613-342X)
- Sabine Herpertz
- Oliver Tüscher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4023-5301)
- Michael Plichta
- Christine Freitag
- Vanessa Reindl
- Thomas Frodl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8113-6959)
- Christoph Korn
- Carmen Weidler
- Christian Schmahl
- Michael Hanke
- Gabi Ende
- Andreas Chiocchetti
- David Slattery
- Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
- Christian Paret
- Tobias Banaschewski
- Marc Spehr
- Nathalie Holz
Institutions
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- University Hospital Heidelberg (DE)
- Heidelberg University (US)
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Der Nervenarzt
- Published
- 2026-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00115-026-02005-x
- Primary Topic
- Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- RWTH Aachen University