Genetic Testing at The Sylvia Brafman Mental Health Center

What is Genetic Testing?

Genetic testing, also known as pharmacogenomic testing, it a valuable tool for mental health professionals. This testing explores specific genes that are known to affect how your body responds to and metabolizes psychiatric medications. While this is not used to help make mental health diagnoses, it can provide valuable insights regarding your use of medications.

If you have taken medications for your mental health in the past, you may have learned that it can take time to find the right medication and dosage amount for your body. The effectiveness of medications is affected by how your body breaks down medications which can have a direct impact on medication dosages that work for you. Additionally, studies have helped us understand how genes can impact your response to medications like antidepressants, antipsychotics, stimulants, and mood stabilizers.

At Sylvia Brafman, we have found that using genetic testing helps us find your ideal medication regimen faster. This resource can avoid unnecessary changes to your medications because we knowledge of how your biological makeup can affect your response to medications.

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How Does Sylvia Brafman Incorporate Genetic Testing into Outpatient Treatment?

The Sylvia Brafman Mental Health Center has partnered with the company Tempus™ that offers genetic testing for mental health. In conjunction with bio-psycho-social, clinical, and medical assessments, we can carefully craft your personalized treatment plan. We recognize the complexity of mental health disorders and that biological factors can play a major role in treatment.

If you would like to learn more about how we incorporate genetic testing with our outpatient treatment programs, we encourage you to contact us directly. If you have experienced difficulties in the past finding medications that work, this may be the missing puzzle piece for improving your emotional and psychological health.

Genetics and Mental Health: What the Research Shows

Some conditions show stronger inherited influence than others. Twin research finds very high heritability for schizophrenia and autism (around 80%) and ADHD (about 70–75%), while major depression is closer to ~35–40% and many anxiety disorders around ~30%. In short, psychotic and neurodevelopmental disorders tend to have higher genetic influence than mood and anxiety disorders.
Depression has a meaningful genetic component. Across family and twin studies, the heritability of major depression is typically about 40–50%, with environment and life stressors making up the rest of the risk.
Many common psychiatric conditions show notable heritability. Evidence supports inherited risk across OCD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, ADHD, autism, depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders, although the degree varies by diagnosis. For example, OCD twin heritability is ~47%, and schizophrenia is often estimated near ~80%.
Substance use disorders (SUDs) are substantially heritable. Genetics account for about half of the risk (roughly 40–60%), with strong signals reported for nicotine and opioid-related disorders as well.
There is shared genetic liability across different SUDs. Large genome-wide studies show overlapping genetic factors that increase risk across multiple substance use disorders, not just one substance.

How Does Sylvia Brafman Incorporate Genetic Testing into Outpatient Treatment?

2025 Genetic Testing guide for The Sylvia Brafman Mental Health Center Partned with Tempus who has actionable results for 97% of patients

By addressing the physiological component of mental health, therapeutic modalities are more effective than therapy alone

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