Development and Environment in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria

The integration of developmental processes is essential for a full understanding of psychopathology. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) provide a scaffold on which to organize the components and processes of psychopathology and to detail behavioral and biological disruptions in developmental processes gone awry. This special section on Integrating Developmental Psychopathology With the RDoC Framework provides the opportunity to comment on five extraordinary developmental psychopathology articles that report results and theory integral to RDoC. An introductory overview provides context for RDoC's approach to developmental issues. This is followed by brief summaries of each article and points regarding its particularly salient aspects, and concludes with broader comments about the import of the articles as a set. Collectively, the work by these eminent translational scholars illustrates how to conduct significant research on developmental psychopathology using RDoC, and simultaneously raises important questions and future directions to integrate development and environment in RDoC-framed research. General Scientific Summary The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) is a framework to study mental illness that was developed by the National Institute of Mental Health. In this article, perspectives are offered on four research studies and one theoretical study published in this issue that used RDoC-oriented approaches. The commentary further details how the science of developmental psychopathology is essential for the RDoC framework.