Self research: A new pathway to precision psychiatry

The scientific paradigm of examining central tendencies through representative samples of populations dominated the last century. Within that framework, solutions to problems of medicine largely pushed individual differences to the margins. People share commonalities, but differences we experience colour our worlds and comprise, for each of us, a unique sense of self. Acknowledging this, here we suggest adoption of a new paradigm, using tailored solutions to describe and resolve mental health challenges for the individual as a specific problem set – precision psychiatry. Through this lens, it is timely and important to consider a new pathway to progress, through research related to the self. As changes in the self-concept and in the way people think and feel about the self, play a critical role in a range of psychiatric conditions, such as mood disorders and schizophrenia, understanding how self-referential processing underpins dimensional psychological functions offers potentially valuable insights into core aspects of mental health.