GeneSight® Genetic Testing
Genetic information that can help our providers at Origin Mental Wellness reduce the guesswork in psychiatric medication decisions.
Finding the right psychiatric medication is often a process of trial and error.
It can take months (sometimes years!) of adjusting doses and switching medications before a patient finds something that works. That process is exhausting, discouraging, and, for some patients, a major reason they disengage from treatment altogether.
Part of what drives that difficulty is that people metabolize medications very differently.
Genetics plays a real role in how your body processes psychiatric drugs, affecting both efficacy and side effects. For a long time, there was no practical way to account for that in clinical practice. GeneSight® changes that.
What GeneSight® Tells Us
GeneSight® is a pharmacogenomic test. It analyzes specific genes involved in how your body metabolizes psychiatric medications. Based on your genetic profile, it classifies medications into three categories: those likely to work as expected, those that may require dose adjustment, and those that may be less effective or carry a higher side-effect risk for you specifically.
This doesn’t tell us which medication will work. Clinical judgment still drives every decision. But it gives us a clearer map. One that can meaningfully shorten the path to effective treatment for many patients.
We offer GeneSight® selectively, not as a routine part of every evaluation. It’s most clinically useful for patients who have:
Tried multiple psychiatric medications without adequate relief
Experienced significant side effects that led to medication discontinuation
Had unusual or unexpected responses to medication in the past
If this describes your history, it’s worth discussing at your evaluation.