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How Genetic Testing Will Transform Mental Health Care
Genetic testing helps physicians to identify more personalized and precise treatment options, ultimately improving psychiatric patient outcomes.
Renowned biochemist and Nobel Laureate Paul Berg said, “I start with the premise that all human disease is genetic.” Indeed, advances in medicine have seen the transformative utility of genetic testing for cancer and other medical conditions. However, genetic testing has only recently seen utilization in psychiatry. The complexities of our brain have long eluded precise examination and treatment.
For people with mental illness and their loved ones, the journey to better health can be a long and troubled passage. Patients and their caregivers can face stressful days and restless nights, filled with profound physical and emotional challenges.
For the more than 46 million Americans whose lives are impacted by mental health conditions1, the burden can be costly as well. According to an editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry, serious mental illnesses cost patients more than $193 billion per year in lost earnings. 2 The emotional cost is boundless.
