Genetics in Psychiatry

There are two main impacts of advancing fields of genetics on psychiatry.

First, we are just starting to understand the complexity that underlies the genetic basis of psychiatric disease. Only ~ 1500 genes are known so far. There are ~20000 uncharacterized genes in the human genome. These genes will be characterized and their roles in human health (including psychiatry) will be interpreted in the very near future (~5 years time). What we know about the genes and psychiatry is going to grow on a logarithmic scale. Therefore, genetic counseling in psychiatry is a tricky proposition. The psychiatrists probably will be seeing patients while looking up their genetic information using a a flash disc and a google like search engine.

Second, knowing that one is prone to a certain psychological disease genetically is different than knowing that one is prone to a common genetic disease. Knowing that you have bipolar or ADD(ADHD) diseases at a young age will have an impact of your social development during primary school. I have ADD and I somehow attended an IV league school for several years. Would I be able to do that if I knew my "disease" ahead of time during primary school years ? No, I do not think so. I would have been stigmatized and lost self confidence in academic issues during primary school. Should all the information regarding genes of psychology be directly translated to individuals ? A question to the point.

As far as psychiatry is concerned genetics is not a "plug it in and inform your patient" issue.