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.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

No precision psychiatry without clinical precision

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

USD 39.95

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

References

  1. Kas MJH, Penninx BWJH, Knudsen GM, Cuthbert B, Falkai P, Sachs GS, et al. Precision psychiatry roadmap: towards a biology-informed framework for mental disorders. Mol Psychiatry. 2025;30:3846–55.

  2. Jermy BS, Glanville KP, Coleman JRI, Lewis CM, Vassos E. Exploring the genetic heterogeneity in major depression across diagnostic criteria. Mol Psychiatry. 2021;26:7337–45.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Cai N, Revez JA, Adams MJ, Andlauer TFM, Breen G, Byrne EM, et al. Minimal phenotyping yields genome-wide association signals of low specificity for major depression. Nat Genet. 2020;52:437–47.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Kendler KS. Toward a philosophical structure for psychiatry. AJP. 2005;162:433–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Leucht S, van Os J, Jäger M, Davis JM. Prioritization of psychopathological symptoms and clinical characterization in psychiatric diagnoses: a narrative review. JAMA Psychiatry. 2024;81:1149–58.

  6. Marková IS, Berrios GE. Epistemology of psychiatry. Psychopathology. 2012;45:220–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Kendler KS. The phenomenology of major depression and the representativeness and nature of DSM criteria. Am J Psychiatry. 2016;173:771–80.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Kendler KS, Muñoz RA, Murphy G. The development of the Feighner criteria: a historical perspective. Am J Psychiatry. 2010;167:134–42.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Barry E. The ‘Nation’s Psychiatrist’ Takes Stock, With Frustration. The New York Times. 2022.

  10. Gupta RK. Major depression: an illness with objective physical signs. World J Biol Psychiatry. 2009;10:196–201.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Boutaleb F, Pierson E, Doudeau N, Nineuil C, Amad A, Daoudi M. Measuring anxiety levels with head motion patterns in severe depression population. In: IEEE 19th International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG), Tampa/Clearwater, FL, USA, 2025, pp. 1–10.

  12. Ouzar Y, Nineuil C, Boualeb F, Pierson E, Amad A, Daoudi M. Wearable-derived behavioral and physiological biomarkers for classifying unipolar and bipolar depression severity. In: IEEE 19th International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG), Tampa/Clearwater, FL, USA, 2025, pp. 1–10.

Download references

Acknowledgements

The French State under the France 2030 programme and the Initiative of Excellence of the University of Lille are acknowledged for the funding and support granted to the R-CDP-24-005-CALYPSO project. Additional funding was provided by the Fondation de France.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

AA and TF jointly drafted the first version of the correspondence. MD and FD contributed to the methodological and neuroscientific aspects of the manuscript, and participated in its critical revision. All authors discussed the content and approved the final version for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ali Amad.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Amad, A., D’Hondt, F., Daoudi, M. et al. No precision psychiatry without clinical precision. Mol Psychiatry 31, 1171–1172 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-03363-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-03363-9

Search

Quick links