Objective Assessments in Diagnoses and Treatment: A Proposed Change in Paradigm

Abstract

For patients with psychiatric disorders, current diagnostic and treatment approaches are far from optimal. The clinical interview drives the standard approach—matching symptoms to diagnostic criteria—and results in standardized pharmacological and behavioral treatments, often, with inadequate outcome; but now, recent imaging advances can correlate behavioral assessments with brain function and measure them against normative databases to provide data critical for the reevaluation of patient diagnosis and treatment. This article addresses the data that support a redefinition of our current paradigm. We believe a neurobehavioral approach provides for more personalized treatment approaches unbound from classically defined diagnostic biases.