Precision without participation: why precision psychiatry needs Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment.

Abstract

Contemporary psychiatry often assumes that more precise diagnosis will yield more effective care. Biomarkers, digital phenotyping, artificial intelligence and related tools promise better diagnosis, treatment selection and outcomes. Yet this expectation is clinically incomplete: objectively valid information may not improve treatment when patients experience it as impersonal, imposed or disconnected from their concerns. Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment (C/TA) complements precision psychiatry by engaging patients as partners in meaning-making rather than passive recipients of expert conclusions. It can transform technically precise findings into personally useful knowledge, making diagnosis more likely to foster engagement and meaningful change instead of merely producing refined classification.