What can be learned from taxometric analyses?

Taxometric analyses can be useful in indicating that a particular set of be liefs, attitudes, feelings, or behaviors have coherence as manifest class t axa. However, there is little reason to believe that taxometric analyses id entify latent class taxa with specific etiologies, pathologies, or treatmen t implications. Taxometric analyses can, in fact, be quite misleading if th eir results are taken too seriously. Mental disorders are most likely the r esult of polygenetic dispositions and multifactorial etiologies. The optima l understanding of the etiology, pathology, and treatment of mental disorde rs is more likely to be multifactorial than taxonic.