Individualized preventive psychiatry: syndrome and vulnerability diagnostics

The development of prevention and treatment strategies of psychiatric disorders will depend on a more profound knowledge of the complex relationships between gene-environment interactions, particularly the interplay of vulnerability and resilience factors within a person’s biography. In this article, the advantages and limitations of the current psychiatric classification systems will be discussed. New directions for a future multiaxial system including biological, psychological, social, life span, gender and cultural factors based on the DSM-V- and ICD-11-research agenda are going to be outlined. Psychiatry without psychopathology is impossible. However, in the future, psychopathology will be closer linked to the biological and psychological nature of the disease process and more function-based. Future diagnostic classification manuals should include dimensional and categorical aspects as well as vulnerability and resilience diagnostic elements. There is a need for a personalized integrative diagnosis and care.