Hi everyone,

Next week, on Tuesday March 22^nd (12.30-13.30), I will give a presentation during the lunch seminar titled ‘Making sense of the intelligibility of network models of mental disorder’. You can find an abstract of my talk below.

The presentation will take place in E15.39/41 (with lunch) and will also be screened via Zoom: https://radbouduniversity.zoom.us/j/82970632005?pwd=ZThQMHE1eUdIU1IvbVJheGJkNDdGUT09.

Could those wanting to join in person let me know before Monday 12.00? Thank you!

Have a nice weekend,

Nina

Researchers are increasingly conceptualizing mental disorders as complex systems. This assumes that studying mental disorders using complexity science methods will lead to better understanding, explanations and predictions. One complexity method that has received much attention in recent years is network analysis. Network scientists claim that these methods could help us to better understand mental disorders. But what kind of understanding can these models provide? And will network models that better capture the complex nature of psychopathology provide us with more, or less understanding, and will this have other epistemic consequences?

 In this presentation, I will explore whether network models of psychopathology can provide scientific understanding: understanding why something is the case based on a scientific explanation. I will argue that network models of mental disorders can provide scientific understanding. However, networks models that are more compatible with the theoretical principles of complexity (and more predictively accurate) will be less scientifically intelligible (and have less explanatory power).