Psychiatric disorders as disorders of social interaction

Social exchange and social interactions play an important role from birth onwards for development and mental health.

As a psychiatrist, social interaction research and social neuroscientist I argue for an interaction-focused conception of psychiatry, which construes psychiatric disorders as disorders of social interaction and seeks to investigate the behavioral and neural mechanisms of social interaction and mental ill health.

Social interaction difficulties constitute an important and often unmet medical need that should be addressed in the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy, because such problems can indicate the presence of a psychiatric disorder.