Pharmacogenomics in psychiatric diseases

Psychiatric disorders are the complex, devastating mental illnesses accompanied by changes in mood, behavior, and cognition. These disorders are a common cause of severe disability for an extended period and lead to socioeconomic liability. Apart from knowing the exact factors for its onset, its casual pathology remains an unsolved mystery. However, the recent developments in the field of neuroscience and psychiatry have been significant in revealing associated factors and consequent pathophysiology. The currently available treatment involves the use of antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics that are much more effective in generating a partial response in affected individuals. The polygenic nature of psychiatric disorders can be determined by the combinatorial result of known genetic variants through several combinations of associated factors, including polymorphism, chromosomal rearrangement, and copy number variation. Pharmacogenomic testing may prove to be quite useful in developing drug therapy for psychiatric disorders. Genome-wide studies and candidate gene approaches could offer vital insights into the neurobiological aspects of psychiatric diseases along with their proper management. The psychiatric pharmacogenomics method could improve precision in prescribing psychotropic drugs and analyze pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of genes that affect the metabolism and response of these medications. This approach may help clinicians to design and prescribe suitable medications based on genomic information, thus improving the goal of clinical outcomes and identifying drugs that pose poor prognosis and fail in clinical trials.