The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is an empirically and quantitatively derived dimensional classification system designed to describe the features of psychopathology and, ultimately, to replace categorical nosologies. Among the constructs that HiTOP organizes are “symptom components” and “maladaptive traits,” but past HiTOP publications have not fully explicated the distinction between symptoms and traits. We propose working definitions of symptoms and traits and explore challenges, exceptions, and remaining questions. Specifically, we propose that the only systematic difference between symptoms and traits in HiTOP is one of time frame. Maladaptive traits are dispositional constructs that describe persistent tendencies to manifest features of psychopathology, whereas symptoms are features of psychopathology as they are manifest during any specific time period (from moments to days to months). This has the consequence that almost every HiTOP dimension, at any level of the hierarchy, can be assessed as either a trait or a symptom dimension, by adjusting the framing of the assessment. We discuss the implications of these definitions for causal models of the relations between symptoms and traits and for distinctions between psychopathology, normal personality variation, and dysfunction.

中文翻译：

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精神病理学分级分类（HiTOP）中症状和特征的区别

精神病理学层次分类法 (HiTOP) 是一种经验性和定量派生的维度分类系统，旨在描述精神病理学的特征，并最终取代分类分类学。HiTOP 组织的结构包括“症状成分”和“适应不良特征”，但过去的 HiTOP 出版物并没有完全阐明症状和特征之间的区别。我们提出了症状和特征的工作定义，并探讨了挑战、例外和遗留问题。具体来说，我们提出 HiTOP 中症状和特征之间的唯一系统差异是时间框架之一。适应不良特征是描述持续倾向表现出精神病理学特征的性格结构，而症状是精神病理学的特征，因为它们在任何特定时间段（从片刻到几天到几个月）都表现出来。这导致几乎每个 HiTOP 维度，在层次结构的任何级别，都可以通过调整评估框架来评估为特征或症状维度。我们讨论了这些定义对症状和特征之间关系的因果模型以及精神病理学、正常人格变异和功能障碍之间的区别的影响。