Being a theory of embodied and sentient behavior, Active Inference can contribute in knowledge sharing to better understand the intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics involved in or implicated in mental health (Pezzulo et. al, 2024). Computational psychiatry (Friston 2022) serves to utilize models of cognition and behavior to predict and account for the above-mentioned dynamics. Being a model constrained by Bayesian principles and the free energy principle, Active Inference allows for one such attempt at better predicting treatment outcomes, nosology, and fundamental principles of cognition.
The Institute supports individual thoughts and projects designed to inquire on topics related to social sciences, psychology, and mental health. Such projects have included attempts at classifying and clarifying Active Inference ontology to better fit the lived experience of individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Active Inference is a systems approach to psychological constructivism that offers a trans-diagnostic perspective to readers. One such benefit of a trans-diagnostic approach is that it identifies connections between different processes without the strict adherence to philosophical requirements. Areas of the theory that can be beneficial to mental health research include:
- Experiential quality of prediction error for patients (i.e., as a mismatch of one’s generative model) (defining “surprise” in therapy practice, Holmes & Nolte 2019)
- Homeostasis and role of consciousness as allostatic control (Krupnik 2024); as well as the dynamic interplay between these processes and mental health symptoms (cultural identity, Ramstead et. al 2016; social conformity, Constant et. al 2019)
- Mental health symptoms as under/over-reliances on a generative model (apathy, Hezemans et al. 2020)
- Requirement of interoceptive processes (body-based) and the roles these have in the make up of a Bayesian brain (Duquette 2016)
- Role of affect and ascribing confidence to one’s generative model (Hesp et al. 2021)
- Equal treatment of action policies as being direct manipulations of one’s environment (decrease free energy now) versus epistemic transformations (change your beliefs about the world to decrease free energy in the future) (PTSD & explore-exploit dynamics, Linson et al 2020; social cognition, Gallagher & Allen 2018)
- Hierarchical models of cognition that outline the dynamic interplay of predictions, actions, habituation, and environmental feedback (theory of constructed emotion, Barrett 2017; cognitivism versus autopoiesis, Allen & Friston 2016)
Conceptualizations are being offered that describe the experience of those with particular mental health symptoms (Parr et al. 2022, p. 186). Active Inference has also been applied to the study of depression (Barrett et al 2016), psychosis (Knolle 2023), schizophrenia (Jeganathan 202130527-7/abstract)), anorexia (Barca et al 2020), functional neurological disorder (Jungilligens et al 2022), and interoceptive dimensions of psychopathology (Paulus et al 2019; Barrett 2016). Conversely, Active Inference also provides a framework for understanding constructs of mental wellness, including subjective well-being (Smith et al 2022).
Chamberlin (2023) illustrates how Active Inference can be applied directly to one psychotherapy model, Coherence Therapy. This type of dialogue allows readers to see the neurological mechanisms and meaningful narratives at play in a framework that treats both equally. It is also good for readers to note that Active Inference offers a framework to reformulate agents as being cognitive, emotional, and embedded without adding other philosophical requirements. It can be beneficial to engage existing psychological theories [of cognition, emotion, personhood, agency, social relations] in order to emphasize constituent processes that Active Inference gives language for. For instance, the focus on sense making in the life of an individual highlights the existence of an agent’s generative model that has been determined within and a part from the generative process. In parallel, sense making can speak to themes of agency and emotional expression.