What is Psychopathology?

Psychopathology is defined as the scientific study of mental disorders. The roots of the word come from the Greek “psych” meaning mind or soul, “path” meaning suffering and “ology”, which means “the study of”. Scientists have been studying human suffering for hundreds of years. This was not always done under strict scientific guidelines until 1981 when a group of epidemiologists at a Canadian University called out for the need of an Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) opening way for the American Psychological Association (APA) Council of Representatives to adopt a policy for Evidence-Based Practices in Psychology (EBPP) in 2005.

Similar to Medicine, in the discipline of Psychiatry/Psychology there are epidemiologists that investigate the root causes and development of mental disorders, as well as randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that exam the efficacy and effectiveness of treatments for each one of the disorders, compared to other interventions. There are different levels of evidence accepted currently, but we do not need to get in details now. When we talk about the gold standard in EBPP, this means that the best scientific methods that we can use today (scientific reviews and meta-analysis) point to the fact that such treatment makes such disorder better and usually the well-being is sustained in the long-term after treatment. In this case, this is probably true for hundreds of RCTs done in different places of the world. Of course, we always look at the bias of most studies being conducted in W.E.I.R.D. countries (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic, as coined by Joseph Henrich), sometimes making it hard to generalize findings. But it is safe to say that they can be transponed among different cultures.

I wanted to write about this because I studied a Masters at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam that dedicates 2 years to research methods of clinical and developmental Psychopathology. This means that I spent two entire years learning how epidemiology works (how mental disorders start, how they develop, when they start, what is their course, how do they change throughout an individual’s life and who they affect the most, among other issues), as well as learning the basic and advanced statistical methods behind the RCTs and clinical (diagnostical) instruments. But that is not all: I also studied the clinical aspects of different disorders and participated in real-life research.

I consider myself lucky to be able to study how the human mind works, especially what does not work well. Of course, we can spend a lifetime learning but there is always something new to learn and discover in different disciplines from neuroscience to clinical findings. It is truly fascinating. Furthermore, in my opinion if we understand the causes and the sustaining factors of mental disorders and how to treat them, we are better equipped to prevent and to maintain mental health, something so precious and so important in the 21st century.

I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about my Masters and learning something new with this post :)