A Network Approach to Depressive Disorders

Treatments to depression often take a latent modeling approach whereby depressive symptoms are a common cause of the disorder. However, such an approach is not without problems. For example, covariance amongst indicators are deemed spurious. Network modeling has been proposed as an alternative way of explaining depression. The purpose of this article is to introduce the network approach and outline how it can be used to foster the development of effective treatment packages. Viewing depression as a network may result in a reduction in the number of patients experiencing depressive episodes.