In the past few years, network approaches have been proposed as an alternative way of thinking about the relations between symptoms of mental disorders. In contrast to traditional psychometric approaches, in which associations between symptom arise due to the common effect of a latent disorder, network models view these associations as the result of direct interactions between the symptoms themselves. In this talk I will outline the main ideas behind this approach, review empirical and theoretical applications, and discuss open challenges.

Denny Borsboom is a professor at the Psychology Department of the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on the conceptual analysis of psychometric concepts, the development of new psychometric techniques, and the formation of formalized psychological theory.