Abstract
In the brave new world of gene mapping and genomics, it is inevitable that a time will come when all of us will be carrying electronic chips with our genetic map, so that plugging into a computer will guide us to personalized medication for any condition. Anti-hypertensive drugs targeted for African American patients are already available, so what does it say about psychiatric medication. In this 25th volume of the series Advances in Biological Psychiatry, authors with international experience provide an overview on the current state of pharmacogenomics in psychiatry. Inherited variability in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics will affect the way individual patients respond to specific medication. For psychiatric medication, these changes may not be entirely clear. In the first chapter, the scene is set for identifying individualization patterns for patients. Although later in the volume, chapters provide specific overviews of different conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and eating disorders, there are other psychiatric conditions that could have been included. It was heartening to read about the ethical and policy issues in this context. For vulnerable patients, ethical issues will be enormous, whether they choose to get married and who they decide to marry. Even simpler questions, such as who should be tested, raise major ethical and policy questions. This slim volume provides a window into the current state of play in this emerging field, and both clinicians and researchers will benefit from reading it.