title: Emerging clinical trends and perspectives on comorbid patterns of mental disorders in research.
abstract: Comorbidity is a well-established and documented phenomenon in mental disorders and medicine with heuristic value. The concept of comorbidity remains however poorly defined and lacks a comprehensive and coherent theoretical framework. There is a need to develop coherent methodological strategies in order to promote a fuller understanding of the implications of comorbidity and to exploit its potential value with regard to etiopathogenic and therapeutic issues. This position paper makes recommendations of improved methodological standards and procedures and discusses a range of options that can provide incremental information that is likely to improve therapeutic outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Psychosomatics and Clinimetrics, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Fava
authors.forename: Eliana
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tossani
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bech
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berrocal
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chouinard
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Csillag
authors.forename: Hans-Ulrich
authors.initials: HU
authors.lastname: Wittchen
authors.forename: Winfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rief
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: clinical trials; comorbidity; iatrogenic disturbances; illness behaviour; mental disorder; psychological well-being