PBHM Workshop: Identifying mechanisms underlying transdiagnostic psychiatric dimensions using factor modelling

Date and Time: Wednesday, 30th August, 1pm -2pm

Location: LB11 in the Lloyd Building and via Zoom

Title: The X Factor: Identifying mechanisms underlying transdiagnostic psychiatric dimensions using factor modelling approaches.

Mental health disorders are typically defined in terms of discrete, diagnostic categories. However, cognitive disturbances do not abide by the existing diagnostic boundaries defined with the traditional nosologies. In reality, cognitive impairments associated with these disorders tend to be non-specific and inconsistent. This is a reflection of high levels of comorbidity, heterogeneity within disorder categories and homogeneity in symptom profiles across disorders. In response to these issues, a number of alternative classification approaches have been proposed to conceptualising psychopathology, including transdiagnostic dimensional approaches.

During this workshop, we will outline two methods used to derive transdiagnostic psychiatric dimensions of mental illness: bifactor modelling and computational factor modelling. Factor modelling approaches aim to characterise psychiatric symptom dimensions using large online datasets of unselected samples. We will describe the value of utilising these dimensional, mechanistic approaches to identify specific neurocognitive mechanisms of mental illness and to inform treatment development and allocation.

Followed by: Social at Kennedy’s pub at 5pm