Ontological Realism for the Research Domain Criteria for Mental Disorders

At the heart of the Research Domain Criteria for Mental Disorders is a matrix in which functional aspects of behavior are related to genotypic and (endo-)phenotypic research findings, and the various techniques through which they can been observed. The matrix is work in progress. As such it currently suffers from several shortcomings, the resolution of which, we contend, are essential to success of NIMH's goal of fostering translational science on mental disorders. Using well-established criteria for assessing the terminological and ontological quality of biomedical representations we identified the major problems to be (1) the abundant presence of terms that lack face value, (2) the absence of what the exact nature of the represented relationships are, and (3) referential imprecision with respect to the intended granularity of what the terms denote. We propose to eliminate these shortcomings by resorting to definitions and formal representations under the umbrella of Ontological Realism as they already have been developed in the areas of mental health, anatomy and biological functions.