Tailoring clinical goals to the individual is a good idea, and lessons from brain science can help.

Abstract

Zilcha-Mano (see record 2026-05243-001) provided several important insights relating to our recent special issue on utilizing data from brain science to better manage clinical heterogeneity (Damme & Mittal, 2024) and expanded on these ideas by emphasizing that individualized definitions of what "healthy" is an important consideration as well. We agree that tailoring treatment planning to an individual person is a very good idea, and, in a related point, we have recently argued that efforts to manage clinical heterogeneity are only as good as the quality of the outcome variables in consideration (see Kraus et al., 2024). In this commentary, we discuss potential barriers, caveats, and considerations and suggest theoretical intersections where lessons from brain research may help. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).