Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)
Strategy 1.4 of the NIMH Strategic Plan calls for the development, for research purposes, of new ways of classifying psychopathology based on dimensions of observable behavior and neurobiological measures. The Research Domain Criteria project (RDoC) has been launched by NIMH to implement this strategy. In brief, the effort is to define basic dimensions of functioning (such as fear circuitry or working memory) to be studied across multiple levels of analysis, from genes to neural circuits to behaviors, cutting across disorders as traditionally defined. NIMH established an internal working group in the Spring of 2009 to begin formulating a process to achieve this goal. This working group has been meeting on a regular basis since then. More recently, an external advisory group has been added, a series of articles/editorials have either been submitted or published describing this effort, and plans are in place to begin a series of conferences/workshops that will solicit input from the research community on this project.
As this project develops, the RDoC web pages will be used to post all information relevant to RDoC including official notices about any formal requests for notification, dates and locations for public meetings and summaries of products and progress.
The RDoC process will be open and transparent to the research community. These pages will serve as the repository for official information relevant to RDoC to keep those interested abreast of the most recent developments.
Additional Information:
Articles:
Insel, TR & Cuthbert, BN. Endophenotypes: bridging genomic complexity and disorder heterogeneity, Biological Psychiatry, 2009, 66(11), 988-989. PMID: 19900610
Cuthbert, BN & Insel, TR. Classification issues in women's mental health: Clinical utility and etiological mechanisms. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 2010. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 20058041
RDoC in the News:
Miller G. Beyond DSM: seeking a brain-based classification of mental illness. Science. 2010 Mar 19;327(5972):1437.
Jan Y. NIMH Builds New Framework for Understanding Mental Illness. Psychiatric News. 2010 May 10; 45(10):9.
Upcoming Workshops/Conferences:
An initial meeting to introduce the RDoC project to the broader scientific community is in the planning stages, and it is anticipated that this meeting will be held in conjunction with the first RDoC research conference. As more information is made available about this meeting, it will be posted on this site.
