Precision Psychiatry

Psychiatry is dedicated to understanding mental disorders and helping people struggling with them live fulfilling lives. Although current treatment modalities can be remarkably effective at improving patients' quality of life and mitigating the burden of symptoms for disorders like depression, bipolar disorder, or posttraumatic stress disorder, finding the right treatment for an individual can be a long and fraught process during which symptoms can worsen the risks associated with other health conditions. Precision psychiatry, as outlined in this groundbreaking book, presents a new path forward. By integrating findings from basic and clinical neuroscience, clinical practice, and population-level data, the field seeks to develop therapeutic approaches tailored for specific individuals with a specific constellation of health issues, characteristics, strengths, and symptoms. This guide harnesses the expertise of more than three dozen contributors in diverse areas of interest, including neuroimaging, electrophysiology, neurocognition, behavioral science, machine learning, and pharmacotherapy, to examine the current state of precision medicine in psychiatry and explore future areas of advancement. Numerous case examples illustrate and apply the principles of precision psychiatry to mood and anxiety disorders, as well as schizophrenia, in adult patients, emphasizing the push to develop biomarkers and algorithms that will identify subtypes of patients that may be underserved by conventional therapies. In these pages, educators, trainees, and clinicians will find the latest research in precise classification, treatment planning, and early identification across a spectrum of psychiatric disorders—and the foundation for a future where one-size-fits-all treatments are replaced by modalities optimized for individual patients across all stages of a disorder.