A new diagnostic system for psychiatry.

The objective of this work is to apply theoretical concepts from system theories to psychiatry, and formulate a novel diagnostic system that will combine the advantages of descriptive diagnosis and biopsychosocial diagnosis in psychiatry. Biopsychosocial factors and symptoms of mental disorders are described as instabilities and perturbations in a system (i.e. the nervous system). The author reviews certain basic concepts from system theories and applies them to clinical concepts in psychiatry. Biopsychosocial factors are perceived as agitators of organization in the nervous system, and symptoms are described as emergent properties out of these perturbations. A profile of biopsychosocial factors is plotted to correlate with a profile of perturbations and their related symptoms. This agitator versus perturbation mapping is advantageous as a diagnostic system for psychiatry. The proposed diagnostic system is of value in dealing with the clinical complexity of mental disorders, has a potential for increasing predictive validity in psychiatry, and may contribute to etiological brain research of mental disorders.