title: Categorical versus dimensional models of mental disorder: the taxometric evidence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review studies of the categorical versus dimensional status of mental disorders that employ taxometric methodology.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive qualitative review of all published taxometric studies of psychopathology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Categorical and dimensional models each receive well-replicated support for some groups of mental disorders. Studies favour categorical models for melancholia, eating disorders, pathological dissociation, and schizotypal and antisocial personality disorders. Dimensional models tend to be favoured for the broad neurotic spectrum--general depression, generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder--and for borderline personality disorder.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taxometric research clarifies the latent structure of psychopathology in ways that have implications for the classification, assessment, explanation and conceptualization of mental disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. nhaslam@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Haslam
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology*