Special section looks at
challenges of classifying
mental health disorders
After decades-long advances in genetics, brain imaging
and neural and behavioral sciences, the National Institute
of Mental Health (NIMH) launched the Research Domain
Criteria (RDoC) Project in 2009. Its goal is to use advances
in basic behavioral neuroscience to transform how mental
health disorders are classified for research in the hope that
such a system will lead to more accurate diagnoses and better
treatments.
But classifying disorders in this way has proven difficult
because of their inherent complexities and co-morbidities, says
Angus MacDonald III, PhD, of the University of Minnesota,
who is among the psychologists working to further develop the
project. That work is the topic of a special section in the August
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, co-edited by MacDonald and
Robert Krueger, PhD, also of the University of Minnesota.
“We need to examine the ways in which this initiative moves
us forward, but also examine the ways in which we need to
strengthen it to allow us to do our science well,” MacDonald
says.
The special section articles include:
• “Mapping the Country Within: A Special Section on
Reconceptualizing the Classification of Mental Disorders,” in
which MacDonald and Krueger discuss rethinking the way
mental disorders are classified.
• “Classification and Psychopathology Research,” which
discusses the experiential nature of psychopathology and the
risk of classifying it based on non-subjective criteria.
• “A Construct-Network Approach to Bridging Diagnostic
and Physiological Domains: Application to Assessment of
Externalizing Psychopathology,” which discusses an approach
to classification that would connect clinical symptoms indexed
by standard assessment methods — such as self-report — to
neural activity indexed by neurological measures.
• “Multilevel Models from Biology to Psychology: Mission
Impossible?” which explores how bioinformatics may bolster a
new classification system that integrates symptoms with science.
• “Constructing Constructs for Psychopathology: The NIMH
Research Domain Criteria,” which comments on the articles
in the special section and provides new insights into RDoC’s
development.
To see the journal’s table of contents, go to http://psycnet.
apa.org/index.cfm?fa=browsePA.volumes&jcode=abn.
— ROBIN TRICOLES
3x
How much more likely
a driver is to get into a
crash when manipulating
a phone — say, reaching
for it, dialing or texting
— than when using a hands-free phone,
according to a study from the Virginia Tech
Transportation Institute.
10.4%
Percentage of 14- to 20-year-olds who reported
misusing painkillers or sedatives by taking the
drugs to get high or taking someone else’s
drugs, for example, at least once in the last
year, according to a study in the November
issue of Pediatrics that surveyed young people
in an emergency department.
12.2%
Percentage of women ages 50 and older who
are satisfied with their bodies, according to
an October study online in the Journal of
Women & Aging. Those women exercised
more, had lower body mass indexes, had
fewer eating disorder symptoms and had
better overall functioning. However, they
engaged in appearance-altering behaviors,
such as plastic surgery, as much as their
dissatisfied counterparts.
59%
Percentage of Internet users who say that
online dating is a good way to meet people,
according to a survey by the Pew Internet
and American Life Project. That’s up from
the 44 percent who said so in 2005.
By the numbers
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