Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS FEATURE

The hidden links between mental disorders

Psychiatrists have a dizzying array of diagnoses and not enough treatments. Hunting for the hidden biology underlying mental disorders could help.
  1. Michael Marshall

    1. Michael Marshall is a freelance writer based in Devon, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Conceptual illustration representing mental disorders.

Illustration by Paweł Jońca

In 2018, psychiatrist Oleguer Plana-Ripoll was wrestling with a puzzling fact about mental disorders. He knew that many individuals have multiple conditions — anxiety and depression, say, or schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He wanted to know how common it was to have more than one diagnosis, so he got his hands on a database containing the medical details of around 5.9 million Danish citizens.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 581, 19-21 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00922-8

References

  1. Plana-Ripoll, O. et al. JAMA Psychiatry 76, 259–270 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Ronald, A., Simonoff, E., Kuntsi, J., Asherson, P. & Plomin, R. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 49, 535–542 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Grisanzio, K. A. et al. JAMA Psychiatry 75, 201–209 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Krueger, R. F. & Eaton, N. R. World Psychiatry 14, 27–29 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Kaczkurkin, A. N. et al. Biol. Psychiatry 87, 473–482 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Xia, C. H. et al. Nature Commun. 9, 3003 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. The International Schizophrenia Consortium. Nature 460, 748–752 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. The Brainstorm Consortium et al. Science 360, eaap8757 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Genovese, G. et al. Nature Neurosci. 19, 1433–1441 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Lahey, B. B. et al. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 121, 971–977 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Caspi, A. et al. Clin. Psychol. Sci. 2, 119–137 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Lahey, B. B., Krueger, R. F., Rathouz, P. J., Waldman, I. D. & Zald, D. H. Psychol. Bull. 143, 142–186 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Barlow, D. H. et al. JAMA Psychiatry 74, 875–884 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Selzam, S., Coleman, J. R. I., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E. & Plomin, R. Transl. Psychiatry 8, 205 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Goodkind, M. et al. JAMA Psychiatry 72, 305–315 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Romer, A. L. et al. Mol. Psychiatry 23, 1084–1090 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Elliott, M. L. et al. Biol. Psychiatry 84, 452–459 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Shanmugan, S. et al. Am. J. Psychiatry 173, 517–526 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Postdoctoral Position

    We are seeking highly motivated and skilled candidates for postdoctoral fellow positions

    Boston, Massachusetts (US)

    Boston Children's Hospital (BCH)

  • Qiushi Chair Professor

    Distinguished scholars with notable achievements and extensive international influence.

    Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Zhejiang University

  • ZJU 100 Young Professor

    Promising young scholars who can independently establish and develop a research direction.

    Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Zhejiang University

  • Head of the Thrust of Robotics and Autonomous Systems

    Reporting to the Dean of Systems Hub, the Head of ROAS is an executive assuming overall responsibility for the academic, student, human resources...

    Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)

  • Head of Biology, Bio-island

    Head of Biology to lead the discovery biology group.

    Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    BeiGene Ltd.

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links