Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40231327›Full record

ArticleBJPsych bulletin2025

Transcending the brain disease versus disorder dichotomy: a critical realist perspective on psychiatric disorders.

Mohammed Al Alawi, Abdullah Al Ghailani, Hamed Al Sinawi

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BJPsych bulletin, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Mohammed Al AlawiDepartment of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6388-5377
Abdullah Al GhailaniOman Medical Specialty Board, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6743-5584
Hamed Al SinawiDepartment of Behavioral Medicine, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, University Medical City, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In this opinion article, we discuss the application of critical realism as an alternative model to the biopsychosocial model in the understanding of psychiatric disorders. Critical realism presents a stratified view of reality and recognises mental disorders as emergent phenomena; that is, their full explanation cannot be reduced to explanations at any lower level of biological processes alone. It thus underscores the significance of the depth of ontology, the interaction between agency and structure, and the context dependency and complex nature of causality. Critical realism provides the conceptual and epistemological basis for a more subtle understanding of the aetiology of psychiatric conditions, which is polyfactorial and includes biological, psychological and social dimensions. Through the realisation of the conceptual and applicative shortcomings in the biopsychosocial model, critical realism promises to advance the understanding of mental disorders and enable a more holistic approach to the problem of people with mental disorders.

Indexed as

causal inferencehistory of psychiatryphenomenologyPhilosophypsychosocial interventions

Identifiers

PMID40231327
PMCPMC12501521

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.