The prevalence of mental health concerns among children and adolescents is on the rise, and most youth presenting for treatment exhibit symptoms of more than one diagnostic category. Caspi et al. (2026) present data from multiple population-level data sets to highlight the pathways through which youth inherit transdiagnostic vulnerability for psychopathology from parents and the trajectories this psychopathology can take throughout the lifespan. Given high rates of diagnostic comorbidity both cross-sectionally and over time, it is not surprising that traditional, diagnosis-specific treatments often fall short of meeting the complex mental health needs of such youth and their caregivers. Building on the future directions highlighted by Caspi et al. (see record 2026-80066-001), this commentary discusses the rationale for and potential benefits of transdiagnostic approaches to youth psychotherapy and general psychopathology prevention. In particular, we describe how these interventions can target cross-cutting psychiatric vulnerabilities to potentially prevent sequential comorbidity, allow for a smooth incorporation of caregivers with disparate mental health concerns into treatment, and facilitate the adoption and scaling of evidence-based practices in mental health systems. We conclude with a call for additional research and training efforts to maximize transdiagnostic intervention effects and their broader implementation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Ehrenreich-May et al. (Fri,) studied this question.