Table 1 Stepwise method to test the dynamical and multidimensional hypothesis of a psychological landscape

1. Construction of a research protocol

Includes: 1) questionnaires searching for personal characteristics and basic symptoms; 2) other data collection at the personal level (imaging, genetics, blood samples); 3) data collection about the macro levels (e.g., data about the kind of neighborhood, rural or urban places of living, macro-economic data).

2. Sampling of the population

Representative sampling of the general population and building of a comprehensive dataset made of the different kinds of data mentioned in step 1.

3. Dataset dimensionality reduction

Reducing the dimensionality of the dataset with information preserving techniques so that a minimal space of description is built.

4. Intermediate dimensionality analyses

Intermediate dimensionality analyses of the space of description: identification of the main factors associated to the dimensions of the minimal space.

5. Construction of a minimum general questionnaire for primary care

Construction of a minimum general questionnaire to be used in primary care settings based on the previous dimensionality analysis. Answers given to this questionnaire allow locating approximately a person on the landscape.

6. Partitioning of the minimal space of description

Partitioning of the minimal space of description with clustering techniques. The regions obtained are termed nosological areas.

7. Searching for pathways between nosological areas

Search for natural continuous pathways linking these nosological areas and analysis of the critical parameters that lead to brutal changes in pathways. Causal parameters associated with these pathways can be analysed by the means of causal networks.

8. Searching for attractors in nosological areas

For each identified nosological area, search for attractors in the sense of system dynamics, and determine the shape and characteristics of these attractors. Each attractor is a steady psychological pattern, may it be termed as pathological or normal. An attractor associated with an impaired functioning or an overwhelming pain could be seen as a pathological pattern.

9. Secondary and local dimensionality analyses

For each identified nosological area, local analysis and determination of the local dimensionality of the area, so that minimal and specific questionnaires can be built. The questionnaires are intended to situate individuals on the landscape more accurately; they can be used in second intention, not in primary care settings.