Multiscale characterisation of neural heterogeneity in psychiatric disorders

The diagnosis of mental illness is notoriously complicated. On the one hand, people with the same diagnosis show tremendous diversity in symptoms; on the other hand, people with different diagnoses often share similar symptoms. This thesis developed new analysis techniques to map brain changes in individual patients to identify the neurobiological correlates of similarities and differences within and between six different psychiatric disorders. The findings offer important insights into the validity of existing diagnostic schemes, potential treatment targets and disease mechanisms, and individual variability in mental illness.