Commentary: A network theory of mental disorders

Mental disorders are often conceptualized as single latent categorical or dimensional entities. The network approach to psychopathology suggests that instead, mental disorders are caused by a network of interacting nodes that result in an emergent disorder. In most applications of the network approach, nodes have been limited to previously codified symptoms of a disorder. We propose an expanded network approach in which nodes represent (1) observable,
(2) individual-level variables that are (3) hypothesized to play a causal role in disorders.

精神疾病往往被概念化为单一的潜在分类或维度实体。网络方法在心理病理学中的应用建议，相反，精神疾病是由一系列相互作用的节点网络所引起，进而产生一种突现性疾病。在大多数网络方法的应用中，节点被限制为之前已编码的疾病症状。我们提出了一种扩展的网络方法，其中节点代表（1）可观察的、（2）在个体层面上被认为在疾病中发挥因果作用的变量。