What You Should Know About Psychiatric Genetic Testing

What You Should Know About Psychiatric Genetic Testing
Close up scientist examining molecule model in laboratory
Close up scientist examining molecule model in laboratory

Managing medication for a mental illness can be a drawn-out, trial-and-error process for many patients. Now, the growing field of psychiatric genetic testing may change that by testing a patient's DNA to determine which medications he or she is likely to respond well to.

But the field is also highly unregulated, and as a new report by Beth Daley of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting shows, the same diagnostic companies that profit from the new technology are often funding the studies that show that testing is effective.

But how exactly does genetic testing work, anyway? How accurate it is? Which mental illnesses are central to testing efforts? And why isn't information about doctors' cozy relationships with testing companies public?

Leave your questions below and tune in right here at 3:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Oct. 7, for a one-hour live chat featuring Beth Daley, Dr. Joseph Goldberg of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Dr. Daniel Carlat of Tufts University School of Medicine, John Grohol from PsychCentral, and HuffPost Healthy Living editor Erin Schumaker to discuss psychiatric genetic testing and whether it's causing more harm than good.

Live Blog What should you know about psychiatric genetic testing?

Also on HuffPost:

Before You Go

Summer Weather

12 Surprising Causes Of Depression

Popular in the Community

Close

HuffPost Shopping’s Best Finds

MORE IN LIFE