Research beyond existing clinical entities

The psychiatric sciences experience a shift in paradigms, in our effort to overcome the static barriers of clinical entities (diagnoses). In the past decades, findings from neuroimaging and genetic studies, illustrating commonalities between (previously thought) distinct clinical disorders, failed to align with our consensus-based descriptions of pathology, as established in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or International Classification of Disease (ICD) systems. In consequence, ideas to formulate a new framework for research on mental disorders were generated. 

In consequence, we follow a Research Domain Criteria approach, thinking in a biologically-based, rather than symptom-based, framework for in our understanding of mental disorders. Independent of distinct clinical diagnosis, we study dimensional associations between biological processes and individual behaviour and experience. Further, we focus on rare and new conditions not adequately captured by existing diagnostic frameworks, improving the understanding of their biological basis.

Some examples of our work thinking beyond existing clinical entities

• Henemann GM, Schmitgen MM, Wolf ND, Hirjak D, Kubera KM, Sambataro F, Lemenager T, Koenig J, Wolf RC. Neurochemical correlates of cue reactivity in individuals with excessive smartphone use. European Addiction Research, 2023;29(1):71-75; DOI: 10.1159/000527095 [PubMed]