HQ Team
November 17, 2025: For millions living with depression and anxiety, the path to effective treatment is often a long and disheartening game of chance. A new study, however, promises a future where a simple DNA test could quickly reveal the right medication, potentially revolutionizing mental health care.
Researchers from Sweden, Denmark, and Germany have developed a genetic approach using polygenic risk scores (PRS) to predict an individual’s response to common antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs. This method analyzes thousands of subtle variations in a person’s genome to estimate which medications are most likely to be effective, moving prescription practices from a one-size-fits-all model to a personalized one.
The Scale of the Problem
The need for a better solution is urgent. Depression and anxiety are the most prevalent mental health disorders globally. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 300 million people live with depression, and another 301 million have an anxiety disorder. Yet finding a treatment that works is a major hurdle.
Currently, nearly half of all patients experience little to no benefit from their first prescribed antidepressant. This failure forces individuals into a cycle of trial and error that can last for weeks or even months, prolonging suffering and increasing the risk of discontinuing treatment altogether.
How the Genetic Key Works
The research, led by Professor Fredrik Åhs from Mid Sweden University, leverages the power of polygenic risk scores. A PRS doesn’t diagnose a condition but instead calculates a person’s genetic predisposition by combining the effects of countless small DNA variations linked to a specific trait or illness.
“We believe this technology could be used to develop more targeted tests. The long-term goal is a test that doctors can use to choose the right medicine, and looking at our genes is one way of doing it,” Professor Åhs stated.
The team applied these scores to data from the Swedish Twin Registry, analyzing the prescription histories of 2,515 individuals. They discovered clear patterns: individuals with a higher genetic risk score for depression or anxiety, for instance, were less likely to respond to certain drugs like benzodiazepines.
“The last 10 years, we’ve been working towards using polygenic risk scores to predict disease. It turns out that these polygenic risk scores can predict our response to drugs, which is a bit surprising, but a significant step forward,” explained Professor Doug Speed from Aarhus University, whose genetic models were crucial to the study.
The Road to Clinical Use
While the results are promising, the researchers caution that the technology is not yet ready for widespread clinical use. The current findings are based on prescription databases rather than direct clinical trials with patients. The next critical step is to validate these results in controlled clinical studies.
“We don’t know exactly why they changed drugs. Was it because of side effects, lack of remission, or something else?” Åhs noted, highlighting a limitation of using registry data. “That’s one of the reasons why we want to do a clinical follow-up study.”
The vision is a future where a cheap, accessible test—potentially incorporating other biomarkers alongside genetics—could guide a doctor’s prescription from a patient’s first visit. This would not only alleviate suffering faster but also reduce the burden of side effects from ineffective medications.
If successful, this research could mark the dawn of a new era in personalized psychiatry, turning the frustrating gamble of finding the right medication into a precise science.
