PsyCourse is a longitudinal naturalistic multi-center study conducted in Germany and Austria (leading PIs: Prof. Thomas G. Schulze and Prof. Peter Falkai, University Hospital, LMU Munich), which was funded by the German Research Association (DFG) until December 2018.
Study participants are patients from the affective-to-psychotic spectrum (DSM-IV diagnoses of recurrent major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder I and II, schizoaffective disorder, brief psychotic disorder, schizophreniform disorder or schizophrenia) and healthy controls. The study protocol comprises an extensive phenotyping battery as well as the collection of biomaterial at four equidistant time points over a period of 18 months (baseline visit plus three follow-up visits). Details can be found in the official publication describing the study (Budde et al., 2018). While not in the public domain, the PsyCourse study is meant to be available to bona fide researchers all over the world based on mutually agreed memoranda of understanding.