To What Extent is an Individual’s Mental State Considered a Component of Psychopathology?

The authors investigate an individual’s mental state to determine at which stage it is considered a significant component of psychopathology. Psychopathology is the scientific exploration of abnormal mental states that, for more than a century, has provided a Gestalt for psychiatric disorders and guided clinical and scientific progress in modern psychiatry. In the wake of immense technical advances, however, psychopathology has been increasingly marginalized by neurological, genetic, and neuropsychological research. This ongoing erosion of psychiatric phenomenology is further fostered by clinical casualties as well as pressured healthcare and research systems. The skill to precisely and carefully assess psychopathology in a qualified manner used to be a core attribute of mental health professionals. Today’s curricula, however, pay increasingly less attention to this training, thus further blurring the border between pathology and variants of the "normal." Despite predictions that psychopathology was doomed to be replaced by neurobiological parameters, psychiatric diagnosis continues to rely exclusively on psychopathology in the DSM-5. The authors discuss hatred, affects, drives, and temperaments as channels for grasping a deep comprehension of the complex concept of psychopathology. This article highlights the need to combine biological, psychological, and social perspectives, presenting a framework using complexity theory to explain psychopathology as dynamic patterns of biopsychosocial interactions.