Innovative Approaches in Neuronal Imaging and Mental Health

Dear Colleagues,

Despite decades of neuroimaging research on mental illness, the neurobiological basis of psychopathology remains elusive and the role of neuroimaging in diagnosis and intervention remains limited. One reason for this lack of progress may concern the conceptualization of mental illness. Indeed, traditional nosological systems for psychopathology establish discrete categories based on symptom clusters that are often biologically and clinically heterogenous. On the other hand, many patients report comorbidity, obtaining more than one psychiatric diagnosis. The presence of within-illness heterogeneity and between-illness similarities raises questions about the validity of diagnostic systems that encompass these apparent inconsistencies. A paradigm shift is likely required in this context.

This Special Issue aims to tackle the issues raised above by inviting papers reporting neuroimaging findings on mental health from the viewpoint of novel conceptualizations of psychopathology (such as the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/research-funded-by-nimh/rdoc) or the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) (https://hitop.unt.edu/introduction)). This includes, but is not limited to, studies relying on a dimensional operationalization of symptoms, using transdiagnostic samples, and tackling issues of within-diagnosis heterogeneity. Neuroimaging is broadly construed to encompass methods quantifying brain activity and structure (e.g., MRI/fMRI, PET, EEG/ERP, and MEG).

Dr. Fernando Ferreira-Santos
Prof. Dr. Miguel Castelo-Branco
Guest Editors

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