Fledgling pathoconnectomics of psychiatric disorders

Pathoconnectomics, the mapping of abnormal brain networks, is a popular current framework for the study of brain dysfunction in psychiatric disorders. In this review we evaluate the conceptual foundations of this framework, describe the construction and analysis of empirical models of brain networks or connectomes, and summarize recent reports of the large-scale whole-brain connectome organization of two candidate brain-network disorders, schizophrenia and autism. We consider the evidence for the abnormal brain-network nature of psychiatric disorders and find it inconclusive. For instance, although there is some evidence for more random whole-brain network organization in schizophrenia and autism, future studies need to determine if these and other observed brain-network abnormalities represent sufficient phenotypes of psychiatric disorders, in order to validate pathoconnectomics as a scientific and clinical framework.