Merlijn Olthof

The title of my PhD-project is: “Changing Landscapes: a complex systems approach to psychopathology and intervention”. We use principles from Synergetics, a theory of self-organization in complex systems, to formulate hypotheses about how change in psychopathology occurs. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that abrupt changes in psychopathology (order transitions) are preceded by a period of destabilization, characterized by a temporal increase in disorder called critical fluctuations, and an increased sensitivity to external influences. Early-warning signals indicative for destabilization can be useful for clinical practice, as they signal sensitive periods in which treatment efforts might be more effective.