Task 6- M&M Presentation

Question 1

What does complex systems theory says about complex systems?

Answer 1

complex systems, ranging from ocean ecosystems to climate, financial markets or the evolutionary development of species, all have certain principles in common that predict their behaviour

Question 2

What does high resilience in a complex system refer to?

Answer 2

high level of stability of the system (deep basin of attraction) meaning that the system can easily face perturbations without being tipped out of its current equilibrium

Question 3

What happens if a complex system has low resilience?

Answer 3

once low, the system is highly instable and at this point even very minor contextual disturbances, also called perturbations, can push the system over a tipping point towards another basin of attraction -> sudden transitions (=phase transitions)

Question 4

Which 4 observations support a complex system perspective on psychopathology?

Answer 4

1. Sudden shifts in symptoms are observed in patients; bimodal distribution of symptoms
2. Verbal descriptions of patients suggest that sudden and discontinuous changes in their symptom experience may occur in the absence of an obvious, temporally proximal cause or reason
   - -> large shifts can also occur following minor, seemingly innocent stressors; most likely when system’s resilience is very low
3. Elements within complex systems are in a continuous and complex interplay with each other -> feedback loop
   e. g. negative mental states -> occurrence of other negative mental states
4. empirical research shows that transitions in symptom levels can be anticipated by directly assessing changes in the stability of the system

Question 5

What can be used to observe changes in stability?

Answer 5

can be observed using certain “EWS” (=Early warning signals)

Question 6

How does the systems view redefines psychopathology? How are diseases seen?

Answer 6

• disease are NOT independent
• no clear boundaries between diseases
• certain mental states may be further apart from each other in space than other mental states (some are more likely to co-occur)
• symptoms and dimensions of psychopathology show preferential connections, which put constraints on the likelihood of certain psychopathological syndromes

Question 7

How is complex systems theory applied to psychopathology?

Answer 7

• 3D landscape
• some transitions more likely for some than for other people
• every person: other landscape
• > landscape can change

Question 8

What are bridge symptoms?

Answer 8

symptoms that connect across boundaries

Question 9

What does for example a rising EWS(=early warning signals) in patterns of the mental state ‘feeling down’ signal?

Answer 9

more likely to signal a transition towards depressed states

Question 10

What predicts directions of change?

Answer 10

local point of instability