The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Social Psychiatry has defined its mission as investigating the relationship between social factors and mental health.

These relationships are studied in cooperation with national and international research and partner institutions with the objectives of

• the generation, evaluation and dissemination of knowledge in the field of public mental health
• the promotion of mental health
• the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of mental disorders
• the increase of mental health literacy
• the study of discrimination and stigma
• the support of decision-makers in public health care.

 Scientific results are communicated "bottom up" (into politics, administration and management), horizontally to professional helpers and other researchers, and "top down" (to service-users and the general public in an appropriate language).

Director:
Prof. Heinz Katschnig, MD

Administration:
Gabriele Niedermayer, MA

EC-Project coordination:
Prof. Michaela Amering, MD

Project management and scientific research:
Gisela Hagmair, MA
Christa Strassmayr, MA

External network of experts:
Peter Berger, MD (Project TRIPS - Mental disorders in the general hospital)
Andrea Brenner, MA ("Fools' Tower Project")
Peter Denk, PhD (Project DRG - Financing systems of inpatient psychiatry)
Fabian Friedrich, MD (General Practioners' Project)
Gerda Kaiser, MD, MA ("Pharmacy Project")
Michaela-Elena Seyringer, MD (Stigma Coping and Schizophrenia)
Ingrid Sibitz, MD (Project TRIPS - Mental disorders in the general hospital)
Prof. Gernot Sonneck, MD (Project Suicidal behaviour and helping services)
Wolfgang Spiegel, MD (General Practioners's Project)
Barbara Weibold, MA (Project Paths of Patients)

There are among others cooperations with the following institutions:

• Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (Queen Mary, University of London), England
• King's College London (University of London), England
• Ministry of Health Vienna, Austria
• Association of Austrian Social Insurance Institutions, Vienna, Austria
• Medical University of Vienna, Austria
• National Centre for Mental Health, Bucharest, Romania
• THL National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki (previously STAKES), Finland
• Trimbos Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands
• World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Danmark
   

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Social Psychiatry was founded in 1977 by Professor Erwin Ringel and Professor Heinz Katschnig. At that time Professor Ringel was in charge of the Vienna Crisis Intervention Centre, founded in the same year. The institute was entrusted with the task of carrying out research in the field of social psychiatry, being new at that time, and especially research on suicide prevention for the Vienna Crisis Intervention Centre.