Universal Dimensional Architecture of the Human Mind: Reconceptualising Schizophrenia, Bipolar, and Autism as Core Human Dimensions

This is Version 2 (March 2026) of the preprint originally posted December 2025 as "Universal Personality Spectra." Version 1 was a preliminary draft. This version provides the complete manuscript with refined terminology, expanded methodological documentation, enhanced theoretical framing, and additional citations.

This framework demonstrates that what psychiatry classifies as schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar spectrum, and autism spectrum disorders are not rare, discrete pathologies, but reflect universal human dimensions that become clinically significant under specific environmental and cognitive conditions. Across 5,000+ observed individuals in diverse contexts, every observed case expressed at least two dimensions in combination; isolated single-dimension or zero-dimension profiles were not detected.

These three spectra can be understood as core dimensional systems of the human mind:

Dimension X (Perceptual-Ideational): Governs perceptual and ideational processing style, ranging from mild expression (occasional unusual thinking patterns including superstitious beliefs, magical thinking, and pattern-seeking in random events), through moderate expression (increased pattern-seeking and perceptual sensitivities), to severe expression (prominent abstract pattern-seeking, unconventional ideation, and perceptual anomalies). All levels represent variation in perceptual-ideational processing along a continuum, not absence versus presence of traits. This dimensional architecture shares the biological and genetic substrates with what psychiatry diagnoses as schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

Dimension Y (Social-Cognitive): Governs social-cognitive processing style, ranging from mild expression (Broader Autism Phenotype with subtle social-cognitive differences), through moderate expression (clear systematic processing style and social communication differences), to severe expression (marked internally focused systematic processing with significant constraints on verbal expression and social flexibility). All levels represent variation in social-cognitive processing along a continuum, not absence versus presence of traits. This dimensional architecture shares the biological and genetic substrates with what psychiatry diagnoses as autism-spectrum disorders.

Dimension Z (Affective-Energetic): Governs affective intensity and energy regulation, ranging from mild expression (cyclothymic temperament with subtle mood variability), through moderate expression (clear mood fluctuations and creative intensity), to severe expression (intense mood variability, marked creative drive, and significant risk-taking). All levels represent variation in affective-energetic processing along a continuum, not absence versus presence of traits. This dimensional architecture shares the biological and genetic substrates with what psychiatry diagnoses as bipolar-spectrum disorders.

Each dimension manifests at varying intensity levels (mild, moderate, severe), all representing spectrum expression. The specific constellation depends on inherited genetic predispositions, but the pattern of multi-dimensional co-expression is universal. These dimensional configurations are not themselves disorders; they become "disorders" only when environmental factors (trauma, chronic stress, lack of social support) and maladaptive cognitive patterns (thought-reality confusion, chronic comparison, catastrophic thinking, rumination) intensify them to impairing levels—regardless of baseline intensity. A person with mild dimensional expression can develop clinical disorder if subjected to severe adversity and maladaptive thinking, while someone with severe dimensional expression can remain adaptive and functional with adequate environmental support and healthy cognitive patterns.

From an evolutionary perspective, this universal dimensional architecture of the human mind persists because different combinations create essential balance within human societies. These complementary dimensional configurations—creativity and stability, internal depth and external expression, abstract and concrete thinking—create functional balance within groups, even while sometimes predisposing individuals to psychological suffering when unsupported.

This framework aligns with dimensional models such as HiTOP and the p-factor but goes further: rather than viewing overlap as comorbidity of separate conditions, it proposes these three dimensions (X, Y, Z) form the basic structure of human dimensional variation. Recent genomic research (Grotzinger et al., 2025) shows that disorders sharing genetic architecture cluster together, supporting the proposal that traditionally distinct conditions reflect shared biological substrates.