Transdiagnostic process

While this is one of the approaches that has historically driven progress in medicine, such taxonomies have long been controversial on grounds including bias,[1] diagnostic reliability and potential conflicts of interest amongst their promoters.

[2][3] Over-reliance on taxonomy may have created a situation where its benefits are now outweighed by the fragmentation and constraints it has caused in the training of mental health practitioners, the range of treatments they can provide under insurance cover, and the scope of new research.

[8] For these reasons, researchers have recently begun to investigate mechanisms through which environmental factors such as poverty, discrimination, loneliness, aversive parenting, and childhood trauma or maltreatment might act as causes of many disorders and which therefore might point towards interventions that could help many people affected by them.

Research suggests that transdiagnostic processes may underlie multiple aspects of cognition including attention, memory/imagery, thinking, reasoning, and behavior.

[10] If research can identity a relatively limited number of transdiagnostic processes, people facing a wide range of mental difficulties might be helped by practitioners trained to master a relatively limited number of techniques corresponding to those underlying processes, rather than requiring many specialists who are each expert in treating a single specific disorder.