Bayesian Psychiatry and the Social Focus of Delusions
December 8, 2023 Daniel R. Williams, Marcella Montagnese 16 citations
Computational psychiatry, which uses Bayesian modelling to understand psychiatric disorders, risks overlooking the uniquely human aspects of psychopathology. The authors argue that its focus on abstract, domain-general inferential processes obscures the complex social and personal phenomena that characterize disorders. Using psychosis and delusions as examples, they demonstrate that an over-reliance on abstract computational models masks the rich social phenomenology of these conditions. They propose an integrated approach that combines computational rigor with a richer framework for understanding how the human mind can malfunction, aiming to ensure computational psychiatry captures the full depth and breadth of psychiatric disorders.