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TITLE: The Vanguard of Psychopathology Conceptualization

ABSTRACT: Changes are afoot in the conceptualization of psychopathology. It is now widely recognized that thinking about mental illness as discrete categories isn’t leading to advancements in our understanding or amelioration of related suffering. Some of these focus on generalities, like shared features across traditional diagnoses. Others drill down, highlighting specific processes, with a view towards personalization in diagnosis. On the surface some of these might seem incompatible and that the field is being pulled in different directions. This talk will highlight how these efforts are actually similarly motivated and complementary by highlighting contemporary data analytic methods that involve either large epidemiological samples or intensive longitudinal studies in naturalistic settings.

Aidan Wright, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Phil F. Jenkins Research Professor of Depression in the Eisenberg Family Depression Center at the University of Michigan. His work is motivated by the observation that who we are (our personality) is related to the problems we have (psychopathology, physical health problems, relationship difficulties). In his research he uses a number of approaches, but most often he conducts studies using ambulatory assessment (e.g., smartphone surveys, passive sensing) to study participants naturalistically and intensively in their daily lives. This is where the action is—where individuals brush up against important contexts and work to overcome the natural friction of life—and where the processes that drive our personalities and our problems are revealed. He interrogates the long strings of data that emerge from these studies using a variety of advanced quantitative approaches, including methods designed to develop personalized predictive models of psychopathology.