The Future of Diagnostics in Mental Health

The International Organization of Physical Therapy in Mental Health (IOPTMH) published new educational standards [1] in 2020 that included a severity differentiation of MH pathologies stating that depression, anxiety, autism, ADHD, stress, eating disorders and addiction were "common", and PTSD, bipolar disorder and psychotic disorder were "severe" diseases. In MH research, Vancampfort et al [2] and Werneck et al [3] stated that schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder were "severe" diseases. However, the dichotomy of "common" and "severe" is questionable. A disorder can be both "common" and "severe" at the same time. A better distinction of severity usually includes the three groups of "mild", "moderate" and "severe". Additionally, many diseases can show a "mild", "moderate" or "severe" course.

Improving the future of the diagnostic approach in MH physiotherapy.

Literature review of MH diagnostics until April 2022, and interviews with psychiatrists and psychotherapists. Qualitative analysis and discussion.

Severity is not indicated by the name of the disorder, but by further questions and tests. Dimensional diagnostics are proposed to be used in future [4, 5] for some disorders, but also a P factor (P for psyche) [6-10]. The P factor further developed results in a PS-factor (PS for psyche and soma). Taken everything together: A dimensional PS factor is proposed including psychical, physical and neuropsychological parameters.

The dimensional PS factor helps to find an efficient treatment and to illustrate the treatment success.