Darren Haywood: Reconceptualizing mental health in cancer survivorship

Recently published in Trends in Cancer (IF = 18.4), led by Dr. Darren Haywood with an interdisciplinary and international authorship group, is an Opinion paper that provides a critical discussion of how mental health is conceptualized within oncology, and how a reconceptualization may be needed to improve clinical practice and research efforts.

The diagnostic approach which conceptualizes psychopathology as binary categories called ‘disorders’, is popular within oncology.

This approach faces significant limitations which impact its validity, and many of these issues are exacerbated within oncology populations.

Hierarchical dimensional conceptualizations, such as the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), help to mitigate these issues by viewing psychopathology as higher and lower-level domains represented on dimensions of severity, instead of by binary categories.

Hierarchical dimensional conceptualizations facilitate empirically-based and individualized assessment (across symptoms and traits), case conceptualization, and treatment, and offer a platform for more reliable and valid clinical research.

The hierarchical dimensional conceptualization has not yet been meaningfully applied within cancer survivorship. However, it has significant potential for improving both clinical practice and research within psycho-oncology.

We provide the next steps toward implementing this conceptualisation in psycho-oncology practice and research.

Reconceptualizing mental health in cancer survivorship

Authors: Darren Haywood, Roman Kotov, Robert F. Krueger, Aidan G.C. Wright, Miriam K. Forbes, Evan Dauer, Frank D. Baughman, Susan L. Rossell and Nicolas H. Hart.

Other posts featuring Darren Haywood.