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Cited by 490Mental Health Research TopicsPersonality Disorders and PsychopathologyAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Progress in achieving quantitative classification of psychopathology

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Krueger, Robert F., Kotov, Roman, Watson, David, Forbes, Miriam K., Eaton, Nicholas R., Ruggero, Camilo J., Simms, Leonard J., Widiger, Thomas A. +47 more·2018·World Psychiatry
DOI 10.1002/wps.20566PMC PMC6172695
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Abstract

Shortcomings of approaches to classifying psychopathology based on expert consensus have given rise to contemporary efforts to classify psychopathology quantitatively. In this paper, we review progress in achieving a quantitative and empirical classification of psychopathology. A substantial empirical literature indicates that psychopathology is generally more dimensional than categorical. When the discreteness versus continuity of psychopathology is treated as a research question, as opposed to being decided as a matter of tradition, the evidence clearly supports the hypothesis of continuity. In addition, a related body of literature shows how psychopathology dimensions can be arranged in a hierarchy, ranging from very broad “spectrum level” dimensions, to specific and narrow clusters of symptoms. In this way, a quantitative approach solves the “problem of comorbidity” by explicitly modeling patterns of co‐occurrence among signs and symptoms within a detailed and variegated hierarchy of dimensional concepts with direct clinical utility. Indeed, extensive evidence pertaining to the dimensional and hierarchical structure of psychopathology has led to the formation of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) Consortium. This is a group of 70 investigators working together to study empirical classification of psychopathology. In this paper, we describe the aims and current foci of the HiTOP Consortium. These aims pertain to continued research on the empirical organization of psychopathology; the connection between personality and psychopathology; the utility of empirically based psychopathology constructs in both research and the clinic; and the development of novel and comprehensive models and corresponding assessment instruments for psychopathology constructs derived from an empirical approach.

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  • The continuity hypothesis suggests that there is no abrupt demarcation between adaptation and growth versus ill-being and psychopathology.

    “Such findings are congruent with the continuity hypothesis (Haslam et al. 2012;Krueger et al. 2018), which suggests that there is no abrupt demarcation between adaptation and growth versus ill-being and psychopathology.”

    From Basic psychological need theory: Advancements, critical themes, and future directions (2020) · cites this paper as Krueger et al. 2018

    The sections “The Continuous vs. Discrete Nature of Psychopathological Phenotypes” and “Implications of Dimensionality” say that evidence generally favors continuous variation in psychopathology over discrete diagnostic categories. They do not establish a continuum specifically between adaptation and growth on one side and ill-being and psychopathology on the other; the latter section also leaves open the possibility of meaningful thresholds for dysfunction. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Factor analytic models generally find that panic disorder clusters with phobic disorders into the fear subdomain of internalizing disorders.

    “factor analytic models generally find that panic disorder clusters with phobic disorders into the fear subdomain of internalizing disorders [56]”

    From Mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders in the ICD-11: an international perspective on key changes and controversies (2020) · cites this paper as [56]

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Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Blashfield R. The classification of psychopatho- logy: neo-kraepelinian and quantitative ap- proaches. Berlin: Springer, 1984.
  2. Cuthbert BN. The RDoC framework: facilitating transition from ICD/DSM to dimensional ap- proaches that integrate neuroscience and psy- chopathology. World Psychiatry 2014;13:28-35.
  3. Carpenter WT, Bustillo JR, Thaker GK et al. The psychoses: cluster 3 of the proposed meta- structure for DSM-V and ICD-11. Psychol Med 2009;39:2025-42.
  4. Krueger R, Tackett J. The externalizing spectrum of personality and psychopathology: an empirical and quantitative alternative to discrete disorder approaches. In: Beauchaine T, Hinshaw S (eds). Oxford handbook of externalizing disorders. Ox- ford: Oxford University Press, 2015:79-89.
  5. Eid M, Geiser C, Koch T et al. Anomalous re- sults in G-factor models: explanations and al- ternatives. Psychol Methods 2017;22:541-62.
  6. Widiger TA, Presnall JR. Clinical application of the five-factor model. J Pers 2013;81:515-27.

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Authors
Krueger, R. F., Kotov, R., Watson, D., Forbes, M. K., Eaton, N. R., Ruggero, C. J., Simms, L. J., Widiger, T. A., Achenbach, T. M., Bach, B., Bagby, R. M., Bornovalova, M. A., Carpenter, W. T., Chmielewski, M., Cicero, D. C., Clark, L. A., Conway, C., DeClercq, B., DeYoung, C. G., Docherty, A. R., Drislane, L. E., First, M. B., Forbush, K. T., Hallquist, M., Haltigan, J. D., Hopwood, C. J., Ivanova, M. Y., Jonas, K. G., Latzman, R. D., Markon, K. E., Miller, J. D., Morey, L. C., Mullins‐Sweatt, S. N., Ormel, J., Patalay, P., Patrick, C. J., Pincus, A. L., Regier, D. A., Reininghaus, U., Rescorla, L. A., Samuel, D. B., Sellbom, M., Shackman, A. J., Skodol, A., Slade, T., South, S. C., Sunderland, M., Tackett, J. L., Venables, N. C., Waldman, I. D., Waszczuk, M. A., Waugh, M. H., Wright, A. G. C., Zald, D. H., & Zimmermann, J.
Affiliations
  • University of Minnesota (US)
  • Stony Brook University (US)
  • University of Notre Dame (US)
  • Macquarie University (AU)
  • University of North Texas (US)
  • University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US)
  • University of Kentucky (US)
  • University of Vermont (US)
  • Psychiatry Region Zealand (DK)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • University of South Florida (US)
  • University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
  • Southern Methodist University (US)
  • University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
  • William & Mary (US)
  • Department of Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology Ghent University Ghent Belgium
  • University of Utah (US)
  • University of Michigan (US)
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  • Maastricht University (NL)
  • Bryn Mawr College (US)
  • Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
  • University of Otago (NZ)
  • University of Maryland, College Park (US)
  • University of Arizona (US)
  • UNSW Sydney (AU)
  • Northwestern University (US)
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  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US)
  • University of Pittsburgh (US)
  • Vanderbilt University (US)
  • Psychologische Hochschule Berlin (DE)
ORCID
Venue
World Psychiatry
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2018-09-07
Volume
17
Issue
3
Pages
282-293
ISSN
  • 1723-8617 (ISSN-L)
  • 2051-5545
DOI
10.1002/wps.20566
PMC
PMC6172695
OpenAlex
W2806594291
Cited by
490
References
63
Citations by year
2026: 34 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 66 · 2022: 67 · 2021: 74 · 2020: 91 · 2019: 60 · 2018: 15
FWCI
78.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • World Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (acceptedVersion)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
  • Digital Commons - University of South Florida (University of South Florida) (submittedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
Funders
  • National Institute of Mental Health (L30MH101760)
  • University of Maryland
  • National Institutes of Health (MH107444, DA040717, U19AG051426, R01AG053217)
  • John Templeton Foundation
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
dimensional models of psychopathology, comorbidities, symptom co-occurrence, personality and psychopathology, empirical classification

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