[Modular psychotherapy-Toward personalized psychotherapy]

Globally, nearly 1 billion people are affected by mental disorders. Psychotherapy, despite its demonstrated efficacy, often shows only limited effects. Current estimates suggest that fewer than half of the patients achieve a clinically relevant symptom reduction. Against this background, innovative psychotherapeutic approaches are gaining importance, particularly personalized treatments, such as modular psychotherapy. Modular psychotherapy refers to treatment programs composed of distinct, functionally defined units (so-called modules) that are independently effective and can be flexibly combined in variable sequences within a systematic treatment algorithm. Initial efficacy studies, such as the MATCH study in children and adolescents, showed superior effects of modular psychotherapy compared to standard treatments, although current evidence is heterogeneous. Current developments of modular psychotherapy, such as the MeMoPsy studies conducted within the German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), integrate digital phenotyping, algorithm-based decision processes, and transdiagnostic mechanisms of change. Overall, modular psychotherapy represents an innovative approach to sustainably enhance the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic treatments via personalization.