Developmental psychopathology

Developmental psychopathology studies how typical and atypical development interact over time to shape mental health and the emergence of mental disorders.

Multifinality: The process by which the same initial condition leads to different outcomes. A shared early risk can lead to distinct later disorders or to no disorder.
Developmental science: The interdisciplinary study of change and continuity across the lifespan. Developmental psychopathology extends this field to atypical pathways and mental disorders.
Developmental psychopathology in clinical practice: The use of developmental history and theory to assess and treat mental health problems. A developmental formulation links present symptoms to earlier pathways and current transitions.
Medical model of mental disorder: An approach that explains mental disorders as illnesses requiring diagnosis and treatment. Developmental accounts add pathways and changing contexts to illness-focused explanations.
Equifinality: The process by which different pathways lead to the same outcome. Different developmental histories can converge on similar clinical problems.
Psychopathology: The study of mental disorders, their symptoms, causes, and course. It supplies the disorder-focused questions that developmental accounts place across time.
Developmental psychopathology in prevention: The use of developmental evidence to prevent mental disorders by addressing risks and strengthening protections. Timing prevention around sensitive periods can interrupt accumulating risk.
Diathesis–stress model: A model in which vulnerability combines with stress to increase the likelihood of disorder. It captures risk interactions, while developmental accounts emphasize their timing and changing effects.
Developmental cascade: A sequence in which changes in one domain influence later development in other domains. Effects can spread across domains as early difficulties alter later experiences.
Developmental psychopathology framework: An integrative approach that explains mental health through transactions among biological, psychological, and social processes over time. This framework organizes the field’s central assumptions about development and disorder.

Linked from 10 pages