Reinterpreting comorbidity: a model-based approach to understanding and classifying psychopathology

Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2006:2:111-33. doi: 10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.2.022305.095213.

Abstract

Comorbidity has presented a persistent puzzle for psychopathology research. We review recent literature indicating that the puzzle of comorbidity is being solved by research fitting explicit quantitative models to data on comorbidity. We present a meta-analysis of a liability spectrum model of comorbidity, in which specific mental disorders are understood as manifestations of latent liability factors that explain comorbidity by virtue of their impact on multiple disorders. Nosological, structural, etiological, and psychological aspects of this liability spectrum approach to understanding comorbidity are discussed.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Comorbidity
  • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
  • Genetics, Behavioral / statistics & numerical data
  • Health Surveys
  • Humans
  • Mental Disorders / classification*
  • Mental Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Mental Disorders / epidemiology
  • Models, Psychological
  • Models, Statistical*
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Personality
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / statistics & numerical data
  • Psychometrics
  • Terminology as Topic