Department of Clinical Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
BMC Med. 2020 Jul 14;18(1):205. doi: 10.1186/s12916-020-01668-w.
In this editorial for the collection on complexity in mental health research, we introduce and summarize the inaugural contributions to this collection: a series of theoretical, methodological, and empirical papers that aim to chart a path forward for investigating mental health in all its complexity. A central theme emerges from these contributions: if we are to make genuine progress in explaining, predicting, and treating mental illness, we must study the systems from which psychopathology emerges. As the articles in this collection make clear, the systems that give rise to psychopathology encompass a host of components across biological, psychological, and social levels of analysis, intertwined in a web of complex interactions. The task of advancing our understanding of these systems will be a challenging one. Yet, this challenge presents a unique opportunity. From physics to ecology, there is a rapidly evolving body of interdisciplinary research dedicated to investigating complex systems. This work provides clear guidance for psychiatric research, opportunities for collaboration, and a set of tools and concepts from which we can draw in our efforts to understand mental health, helping us move toward our ultimate aim of improving the prevention and treatment of psychopathology.
在这篇关于心理健康研究复杂性的社论中，我们介绍并总结了本专题集的开篇贡献：一系列旨在为全面研究心理健康的复杂性开辟道路的理论、方法和经验论文。这些贡献提出了一个核心主题：如果我们要在解释、预测和治疗精神疾病方面取得真正的进展，就必须研究产生精神病理学的系统。正如本专题集中的文章所明确指出的，导致精神病理学的系统包含了生物、心理和社会分析层面的众多组成部分，以复杂的相互作用网络交织在一起。推进我们对这些系统的理解将是一项具有挑战性的任务。然而，这一挑战带来了一个独特的机会。从物理学到生态学，都有大量跨学科的研究致力于研究复杂系统。这项工作为精神病学研究提供了明确的指导、合作机会，以及一套工具和概念，我们可以从中汲取力量，努力理解心理健康，帮助我们朝着最终改善精神病理学的预防和治疗的目标前进。
