title: The need for a behavioural science focus in research on mental health and mental disorders.
abstract: Psychology as a science offers an enormous diversity of theories, principles, and methodological approaches to understand mental health, abnormal functions and behaviours and mental disorders. A selected overview of the scope, current topics as well as strength and gaps in Psychological Science may help to depict the advances needed to inform future research agendas specifically on mental health and mental disorders. From an integrative psychological perspective, most maladaptive health behaviours and mental disorders can be conceptualized as the result of developmental dysfunctions of psychological functions and processes as well as neurobiological and genetic processes that interact with the environment. The paper presents and discusses an integrative translational model, linking basic and experimental research with clinical research as well as population-based prospective-longitudinal studies. This model provides a conceptual framework to identify how individual vulnerabilities interact with environment over time, and promote critical behaviours that might act as proximal risk factors for ill-health and mental disorders. Within the models framework, such improved knowledge is also expected to better delineate targeted preventive and therapeutic interventions that prevent further escalation in early stages before the full disorder and further complications thereof develop. In contrast to conventional "personalized medicine" that typically targets individual (genetic) variation of patients who already have developed a disease to improve medical treatment, the proposed framework model, linked to a concerted funding programme of the "Science of Behaviour Change", carries the promise of improved diagnosis, treatment and prevention of health-risk behaviour constellations as well as mental disorders.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies (CELOS), Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Ulrich
authors.initials: HU
authors.lastname: Wittchen
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knappe
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Araya
authors.forename: Rosa M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Banos Rivera
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barkham
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bech
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beckers
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berking
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berrocal
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Botella
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carlbring
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chouinard
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Colom
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Csillag
authors.forename: Pim
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cujipers
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: Paul M G
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Emmelkamp
authors.forename: Cecilia A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Essau
authors.forename: Giovanni A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Fava
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goschke
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hermans
authors.forename: Stefan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Muris
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Ollendick
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Raes
authors.forename: Winfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rief
authors.forename: Heleen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Riper
authors.forename: Eliana
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tossani
authors.forename: Saskia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van der Oord
authors.forename: Bram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vervliet
authors.forename: Josep M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Haro
authors.forename: Gunter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schumann
mesh_terms: D001525:Behavioral Sciences; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008603:Mental Health; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical
keywords: agenda; behaviour change; health behaviour; mental disorder; mental health; personalized medicine; psychology; translation