Computational Psychiatry: is it relevant for psychiatric practice?

Computational Psychiatry (CP) is a young field of research at the interface between clinical psychiatry and mathematical neurosciences, which has emerged during recent years. This article describes the possible clinical implications of this young discipline. We (i) begin with a short review on the history, aims, and contents of CP, (ii) delineate the relevance, central themes, models, and theories of CP, (iii) investigate the relevance and the potential of model-based diagnostic tests (computational assays) for the solution of central problems of clinical psychiatry, and (iv) point out future challenges and opportunities of CP.