RDoC and the developmental origins of psychiatric disorders: How did we get here and where are we going?

About a decade ago, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) proposed an innovative framework, the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), to classify psychiatric disorders. This complementary approach has been used with existing diagnostic systems to identify transdiagnostic factors that inform early detection of mental health disturbances and critically, provide novel targets for interventions. An additional goal, however, has been to clarify developmental processes and illness trajectories by operationalizing dimensional constructs during sensitive periods of neurofunctional development to capture the early emergence of behavioral alterations and impairment. As developmental factors are inherent to all RDoC systems and the units of analysis therein, NIMH shepherded developmental-oriented research with targeted funding opportunity announcements. This resulting work has highlighted promising phenotypes and biological markers related to psychiatric illness across the lifespan.