Attention and Its Symptoms: From Descriptive Psychopathology to RDoC and Back Again

This article reviews historical and recent conceptualizations of attention, attentional problems, and their role in psychiatric disorders. It synthesizes theoretic accounts, neurocircuitry, symptoms, transdiagnostic significance, and bedside assessment methods. Attentional problems extend beyond psychiatric diagnoses into everyday life, with disorder-specific roles as risk factors, markers, consequences, or correlates. Between-individual and within-individual attentional variability show promise as risk markers for psychopathology and early detection. Wearables, technology, and modeling may enable earlier identification and inform interventions at optimal treatment windows. Future work should focus integrating precision dynamic methods with traditional clinical assessments, alongside input from clinicians and patients, to ensure accessible and precise assessment solutions.