From Categories to Processes: A Review of New Approaches in Psychopathology
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article reviews alternative approaches to the predominant categorical diagnostic classifications in psychopathology, such as the DSM and ICD. It discusses limitations of these systems, including symptom overlap, comorbidity, imprecise presence/absence boundaries, and difficulties concerning the validity of discrete categories. The paper analyzes dimensional and transdiagnostic models that seek to address these problems. Among them, it describes the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), which proposes a quantitative nosology based on evidence about the organization of psychopathological phenomena; the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), which study functional dimensions and biobehavioral mechanisms relevant to mental disorders; psychopathological network analysis, which views symptoms as interrelated entities with an active causal role; and process-based diagnosis, which emphasizes shared underlying processes rather than differentiated clinical entities. These approaches provide alternatives for studying comorbidity, heterogeneity, and processes shared across clinical problems, although they also present methodological, clinical, and generalizability limitations.
Source: Revista de Psicología
Language: Spanish
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7224993211