Causality and Psychopathology: Finding the Determinants of Disorders and Their Cures

Part of the new American Pyschopathological Association Series. Containing contributions from leading scholars of causal thinking in epidemiology and psychopathology research, this volume is based on presentations at the ground-breaking 2008 meeting of the American Psychopathological Association. The authors explore the meaning of causal statements that are made from statistical and experimental evidence; then, they suggest novel approaches to analyze these statements and thus make them more informative and medically rigorous. The collection of chapters uniquely includes both methodological contributions and detailed assessments of how causal inferences can be made when considering research results on developmental psychopathology, clinical psychopharmacology, personality disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and psychiatric genetics. In analyzing causal references, the authors examine controversies surrounding various disorders and their treatment.