Genetic Testing for Bipolar Medication This is done through genetic testing for medication response. The Genomind Pharmacogenetic (PGx) test looks at 24 genes related to mental health treatment and can be used to help determine medication options to manage bipolar disorder.
While many common genetic variants of small effects have been discovered, AKAP11 is the first gene found to have a large effect on bipolar disorder risk.
Bipolar disorder is the most likely psychiatric disorder to be passed down from family. If one parent has bipolar disorder, there's a 10% chance that their child will develop the illness. If both parents have bipolar disorder, the likelihood of their child developing bipolar disorder rises to 40%.
Bipolar disorder, especially the most severe type (type I), has a strong genetic component.
Although recent studies have begun to identify the genetic markers associated with certain mental disorders and eventually may lead to better screening and more personalized treatment, it is still too early to use genetic tests or genome scans to diagnose or treat mental disorders accurately.
Bipolar disorder often runs in families, and research suggests this is mostly explained by heredity—people with certain genes are more likely to develop bipolar disorder than others. Many genes are involved, and no one gene can cause the disorder. But genes are not the only factor.
Although bipolar disorder can occur at any age, typically it's diagnosed in the teenage years or early 20s. Symptoms can vary from person to person, and symptoms may vary over time.
Bipolar disorder can occur at any age, although it often develops between the ages of 15 and 19 and rarely develops after 40. Men and women from all backgrounds are equally likely to develop bipolar disorder. The pattern of mood swings in bipolar disorder varies widely between people.
According to medical experts, bipolar disorder can also skip generations. Bipolar disorder is a complex condition, and scientists do not fully understand the role that genes play. A combination of many different genes likely increases a person's chance of developing this condition.
That includes the approximately 5.7 million who've been affected just in the last year alone. And while bipolar disorder affects both men and women in equal numbers, symptoms; comorbidities; rate of diagnosis; and other factors are actually quite different among the sexes.
To diagnose bipolar disorder, a doctor performs a physical exam, asks about your symptoms, and recommends blood testing to determine if another condition, such as hypothyroidism, is causing your symptoms. If the doctor does not find an underlying cause of your symptoms, he or she performs a psychological evaluation.
Bipolar disorder may worsen with age or over time if the condition is left untreated. As time goes on, a person may experience episodes that are more severe and more frequent than when symptoms first appeared.
The illness usually starts with depression rather than mania, so even when mania is detected accurately, the onset of bipolar disorder may be missed.
No one knows exactly what causes bipolar disorder. Research suggests that a combination of factors could increase your chance of developing it. This includes physical, environmental and social conditions.
In addition to other genetic, environmental, and physical factors, trauma is believed to contribute to bipolar disorder by causing emotional distress. Childhood trauma is an especially common risk factor of bipolar disorder, which includes experiences like sexual or physical abuse, neglect, and the loss of a loved one.
Experts believe that bipolar disorder is associated with a chemical imbalance in the brain. Brain chemicals called neurotransmitters help deliver messages between areas of the brain. An imbalance of these chemicals may cause symptoms of bipolar disorder.
One of the most highly genetically inherited psychiatric disorders is bipolar disorder which may affect as much as 1-4% of the population. Bipolar disorder is characterized by periods of depression followed by periods of abnormally elevated mood (mania/hypomania).
Scientists have long recognized that many psychiatric disorders tend to run in families, suggesting potential genetic roots. Such disorders include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia.
If you have a mental illness you might be worried that your children or siblings will develop the same or a different mental illness. Most people with a mental illness do not have relatives with the same illness. But research does suggest that mental illness can run in families.