TY - JOUR

T1 - The need for a behavioural science focus in research on mental health and mental disorders

AU - Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich

AU - Knappe, Susanne

AU - Andersson, Gerhard

AU - Araya, Ricardo

AU - Banos Rivera, Rosa M.

AU - Barkham, Michael

AU - Bech, Per

AU - Beckers, Tom

AU - Berger, Thomas K.

AU - Berking, M.

AU - Berrocal, Carmen

AU - Botella, Cristina M.

AU - Carlbring, Per

AU - Chouinard, Guy

AU - Colom, Francesc

AU - Csillag, Claudio

AU - Cuijpers, Pim

AU - David, Daniel

AU - Emmelkamp, Paul Maria Gerardus

AU - Essau, Cecilia Ahmoi

AU - Fava, Giovanni Andrea

AU - Goschke, Thomas

AU - Hermans, Dirk

AU - Hofmann, Stefan G.

AU - Lutz, Wolfgang

AU - Muris, Peter

AU - Ollendick, Thomas H.

AU - Raes, Filip

AU - Rief, Winfried

AU - Riper, Heleen

AU - Tossani, Eliana

AU - Van Der Oord, Saskia

AU - Vervliet, Bram

AU - Haro, Josep Maria

AU - Schumann, Gunter

PY - 2014/1/1

Y1 - 2014/1/1

N2 - Psychology as a science offers an enormous diversity of theories, principles, and methodological approaches to understand mental health, abnormal functions and behaviours and mental disorders. A selected overview of the scope, current topics as well as strength and gaps in Psychological Science may help to depict the advances needed to inform future research agendas specifically on mental health and mental disorders. From an integrative psychological perspective, most maladaptive health behaviours and mental disorders can be conceptualized as the result of developmental dysfunctions of psychological functions and processes as well as neurobiological and genetic processes that interact with the environment. The paper presents and discusses an integrative translational model, linking basic and experimental research with clinical research as well as population-based prospective-longitudinal studies. This model provides a conceptual framework to identify how individual vulnerabilities interact with environment over time, and promote critical behaviours that might act as proximal risk factors for ill-health and mental disorders. Within the models framework, such improved knowledge is also expected to better delineate targeted preventive and therapeutic interventions that prevent further escalation in early stages before the full disorder and further complications thereof develop. In contrast to conventional "personalized medicine" that typically targets individual (genetic) variation of patients who already have developed a disease to improve medical treatment, the proposed framework model, linked to a concerted funding programme of the "Science of Behaviour Change", carries the promise of improved diagnosis, treatment and prevention of health-risk behaviour constellations as well as mental disorders.

AB - Psychology as a science offers an enormous diversity of theories, principles, and methodological approaches to understand mental health, abnormal functions and behaviours and mental disorders. A selected overview of the scope, current topics as well as strength and gaps in Psychological Science may help to depict the advances needed to inform future research agendas specifically on mental health and mental disorders. From an integrative psychological perspective, most maladaptive health behaviours and mental disorders can be conceptualized as the result of developmental dysfunctions of psychological functions and processes as well as neurobiological and genetic processes that interact with the environment. The paper presents and discusses an integrative translational model, linking basic and experimental research with clinical research as well as population-based prospective-longitudinal studies. This model provides a conceptual framework to identify how individual vulnerabilities interact with environment over time, and promote critical behaviours that might act as proximal risk factors for ill-health and mental disorders. Within the models framework, such improved knowledge is also expected to better delineate targeted preventive and therapeutic interventions that prevent further escalation in early stages before the full disorder and further complications thereof develop. In contrast to conventional "personalized medicine" that typically targets individual (genetic) variation of patients who already have developed a disease to improve medical treatment, the proposed framework model, linked to a concerted funding programme of the "Science of Behaviour Change", carries the promise of improved diagnosis, treatment and prevention of health-risk behaviour constellations as well as mental disorders.

KW - Health sciences

KW - Agenda

KW - Behaviour change

KW - Health behaviour

KW - Mental disorder

KW - Mental health

KW - Personalized medicine

KW - Psychology

KW - Translation

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84891124265&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/fa787569-2e49-375b-8891-958439cb9fd4/

U2 - 10.1002/mpr.1409

DO - 10.1002/mpr.1409

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 24375534

AN - SCOPUS:84891124265

VL - 23

SP - 28

EP - 40

JO - International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research

JF - International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research

SN - 1049-8931

IS - S1

ER -