You’ve likely heard of National Depression Screening Day, or read that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could soon be used to predict risk for Alzheimer’s and other disorders. You may even have seen ads for services that promise to evaluate your risk for many disorders — including schizophrenia — based on a saliva sample you mail them. It’s comforting to think of simple, reliable tests for mental illness; early detection and treatment would prevent much suffering. But how close are we to that point?
Is it really possible to spot mental illness in the DNA from your saliva? The National Institute of Mental Health says, “It’s too early for these new genome scans to give people a complete picture of their risk of mental illnesses or to diagnose them . . . Also, the genetics of mental illnesses and other common diseases are much more complex than the genetics of many of the rare, single-gene diseases. Mental illnesses appear to involve variations in many genes combined with other factors, such as stress.”
MRI scans are constantly bringing researchers more information about the brain, and how it may differ physically in persons with mental illness. However, that is the main use of MRI in mental health right now. NIMH says, “Brain scans alone cannot be used to diagnose a mental disorder.”
Self-report inventories — questionnaires the patient answers about his traits and behaviors — are used by screening programs to help people decide whether to seek mental health services. For example, mentalhealthscreening.org has inventories for depression, eating disorders, PTSD, and several other disorders. Though these tests may seem simplistic, they can be revealing. Dr. David Burns, author of Feeling Good, calls the Beck Depression Inventory “a highly sophisticated tool.” Still, they’re only the beginning — if they indicate a problem, the next step is to get a professional opinion.
Simpler, more accurate testing for mental illness is not an unreachable goal — we just haven’t reached it yet.
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