Mental Disorders as Homeostatic Property Clusters

The HPC view accounts for many robust phenomena in mental health science, turning classification challenges from isolated anomalies into natural consequences of superimposing structure on the landscape of mental health problems. It aligns with major clinical and research frameworks—including Engel’s biopsychosocial model, network and systems approaches, the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology, and the Research Domain Criteria project—highlighting its role as a mental health science meta-framework. Doing so, it helps sidestep unproductive debates over the best universal classification system. Clinicians, researchers, and policymakers have different priorities and constraints, and no single classification system will optimally serve all stakeholders.

Corresponding Author: Eiko I. Fried, PhD, Universiteit Leiden, Wassenaarseweg 52, Leiden, Zuid-Holland 2333 AK, the Netherlands (eikofried@gmail.com).

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