DSM-III cover

Book cover of the French translation of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd Edition
Source: American Psychiatric Association: DSM-III. Manuel diagnostique et statistique des troubles mentaux. French translation coordinated by Pierre Pichot and Julien Daniel Guelfi. Paris: Editions Masson, 1985. Picture of the cover courtesy of: le-livre.com

 

Working Group (2021-)

Translating Validity in Psychiatric Research

The question of whether psychiatry can be a scientific discipline has been focused around the concept of validity since the 1950s. Yet, there have been different understandings of what it means to ascertain validity. This has sparked vivid methodological debates, whose history, philosophy, and practical implications on psychiatric research this working group examines. On the one side, a lot of attention has been given to the promises and limitations of searching for consensus on protocols, operationalization, and standardized vocabularies in biological psychiatry. Such frameworks and tools of unification proliferated with the internationalization of psychiatric research in the second half of the twentieth century. On the other side, in research practices, validity has mainly been used as an umbrella term to refer to a diversity of procedures and measurements. This has raised the question to what extent the plethora of commonly used so-called validator criteria refer to the same construct. This problem has become even more apparent when results are extrapolated and compared across contexts and languages.

This working group brings together philosophers, historians, and researchers in psychiatry, psychology, and neuroscience to examine how validity has been conceptualized and translated within psychiatric research.

In collaboration with the “Philosophy of Clinics in Neuroscience and Psychiatry” Research Group, led by Steeves Demazeux at the Université de Bordeaux-Montaigne.

The research groups jointly coordinate an online event series on Translating Validity in Psychiatric Research.
Seminar Series Poster 2022-2023
Seminar Series Poster 2021-2022

Past Events

Validity of Animal Models in Psychiatry (and Beyond)

MORE

Construct Validity in Psychology and Psychiatry

MORE

Neurasthenia, the International Classification of Diseases, and Psychiatry in the Socialist World

MORE

Challenges to Translating Validity in Psychiatric Research

MORE

The Network Approach to Psychopathology

MORE

Non-specific (Generic) Psychopathology: Considerations from the Theory of Open Concepts

MORE

Responsible Mental Health Measures that are Valid and Fit for their Purpose

MORE

Thick Descriptions in Psychopathology: Ryle Meets Kraepelin

MORE

Crazy Standards: The WHO and the Rise of Descriptive Psychiatry

MORE

The Laboratory of Animal Spirits. Animal Experimentation and Therapeutic Innovation in the Wake of the Psychopharmacological Revolution

MORE

Gray Matters: A Material History of Mental Health

MORE

Being between Scylla and Charybdis: Designing Animal Studies in Neurosciences and Psychiatry—Too Ethical to Be Ethical?

MORE

Adaptation and Norming of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) in Norway: 1970s to the Present

MORE

In Search of Evidence: Shifting Epistemic Tools to Elucidate the Genetic Origins of Psychiatric Disorders, and some Underlying Assumptions

MORE

The Validity of Machine Learning Models for the Measurement of Personality Traits

MORE

Some Questions about the New DSM-5-TR Diagnosis of Prolonged Grief Disorder

MORE

Beyond Validity: Predictivity! The DSM-5 Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders Revision and the Emergence of Craving

MORE