Evolving Concepts of the Schizophrenia Spectrum: A Research Domain Criteria Perspective

Abstract

Several trends intersecting over the past two decades have generated increasing debate as to how the concepts of schizophrenia, the schizophrenia spectrum, and the psychotic disorders spectrum should be regarded. These trends are reflected in various areas of research such as genomics, neuroimaging, and data-driven computational studies of multiple response systems. Growing evidence suggests that schizophrenia represents a broad and heterogenous syndrome, rather than a specific disease entity, that is part of a multi-faceted psychosis spectrum. Progress in explicating these various developments has been hampered by the dependence upon sets of symptoms and signs for determining a diagnosis, and by the reliance on traditional diagnostic categories in reviewing clinical research grants. To address these concerns, the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health initiated the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project, a translational research program that calls for studies designed in terms of empirically-based functions (such as cognitive control or reward learning) rather than diagnostic groups. RDoC is a research framework rather than an alternative diagnostic system, intended to provide data that can inform future nosological manuals. This commentary includes a brief summary of RDoC as it pertains to schizophrenia and psychotic spectra, examples of recent data that highlight the utility of the approach, and conclusions regarding the implications for evolving conceptualizations of serious mental illness.