title: The National Institute of Mental Health Research Domain Criteria and Clinical Research in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review discusses the relevance of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) to clinical research in child and adolescent psychiatry.
  
  
  METHODS
  We summarize the characteristics of the NIMH RDoC project and then provide examples of RDoC designs that are of relevance to clinical investigators in child and adolescent psychiatry. The final section addresses questions regarding the impact of RDoC on clinical care.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RDoC encourages investigators to investigate psychopathology dimensionally: greater or lesser degrees of healthy/adapted functioning of neurobiological, cognitive, and behavioral processes (constructs) that cut across current diagnostic categories. Elucidation of the developmental components of RDoC constructs is needed to ensure they are fully validated. Integrating RDoC approaches into clinical research of child and adolescent psychopathology is contributing to our understanding of development as an aspect of the heterogeneity within DSM disorders and commonalities across seemingly disparate disorders. Continued efforts promise to also explain the processes that lead to mental illness in at-risk populations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Incorporating an RDoC approach in clinical research in child and adolescent psychiatry promises to be a fruitful avenue of research into the root causes and manifestations of mental illness, which will eventually lead to more precise treatments. Although the long-term aspiration of RDoC is to help reduce the burden of suffering for those with mental illnesses, it is not intended to be used for practical clinical purposes at this early stage.
authors.affiliation: Division of Translational Research, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, MD. Electronic address: marjorie.garvey@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Marjorie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garvey
authors.affiliation: Division of Translational Research, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Shelli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Avenevoli
authors.affiliation: Division of Translational Research, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000296:Adolescent Psychiatry / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D009315:National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) / Q000592:standards*; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000379:methods; D011599:Psychopathology / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D014481:United States
keywords: National Institute of Mental Health; RDoC; Research Domain Criteria; child and adolescent psychiatry; clinical research