Aetiological developmental models of symptoms of mental disorders in children: are we focussing on the relevant aspects in relation to individual diagnosis and intervention?

Excerpt

There is a long history of empirical research testing biologically or psychosocially oriented models to explain the incidence and prevalence of mental disorders, first, in adults since around the nineteenth century and, more recently, also in children since around mid of the twentieth century. Many early models focussed on single or just a few factors, which were expected to explain most of the variance in behaviour, impairment or psychopathology associated with mental disorders, accommodating the human mind’s cognitive bias of seeking causality. By integrating current advances in genetics, epigenetics, neuroscience (including neurocognitive, behavioural and interpersonal aspects) as well as computational basic science, aetiological models of mental disorders, diagnostic and intervention approaches for mental disorders in children and adolescents may be considerably revised in the future. …