Personalize Your Mental Healthcare with GeneSight®

Fighting depression, OCD, and anxiety disorders is difficult, even with therapy and medications. The key to getting it right is often a mix of trial and error and countless months of unwanted side effects.

If you want a personalized option to mental healthcare and medications, Dr. Elia R. Gonzalez-Rodriguez at her practice, Pacific Phoenix Psychiatry & TMS, offers GeneSight® testing.

She’s an experienced and compassionate psychiatrist helping veterans and others struggling with mental health issues overcome symptoms to live a happier and healthier life.

What is GeneSight testing?

The GeneSight test is a cutting-edge tool we use to help people find which psychiatric medications are likely to work best for their needs. It’s a simple procedure that tests your specific genes to see what mental health meds work best for you.

GeneSight looks at how the body metabolizes mental health medications. By evaluating 14 genes, the test provides better insight into how each person’s body utilizes, processes, and absorbs various mental health medications.

The result is a clearer insight into what drugs may work for you and which ones carry a higher risk of side effects. It’s highly effective in finding the correct medications for people who have struggled with side effects in the past or haven’t found a drug that works for their needs.

How the test works

GeneSight testing is simple, noninvasive, and offers invaluable insight into your body. We can perform the easy cheek swab in our office, or you can do it in the comfort of your home.

We send the collected DNA to a laboratory that examines genetic variations to assess how the body metabolizes mental health medications. We then get a report back that gives us mental health medications in three different groups, which include:

Green

Green essentially means “go.” The medications in the green list are likely to work best for the patient. The genetic variants don’t predict an unwanted response, so these drugs are safe to use.

Yellow

The yellow category drugs mean use with caution. If you use one of these medications, we will monitor you more closely for side effects and may need to adjust the dose to ensure the drug works for your needs.

Red

Drugs in the red column are those for which we found a significant drug-gene interaction. You should avoid these medications as they can lead to serious side effects and likely won’t be effective for treatment.

Benefits of GeneSight testing

GeneSight testing looks at your genetics and medications that treat mental health issues like depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and ADHD. The goal is to personalize your mental healthcare to find a treatment that works with your body instead of against it.

The major benefit is our ability to customize treatment based on how your body metabolizes certain drugs. It can also:

• Shorten the time required to find an effective medication
• Reduce the risk of unwanted side effects
• Discover dosage adjustments for effectiveness
• Cut out the trial-and-error way of choosing medications

GeneSight is an excellent option for customizing care and avoiding unnecessary symptoms. 

Contact our team at Pacific Phoenix Psychiatry & TMS to schedule your appointment to discuss GeneSight testing, or send us a message through our website.