Traumatic Experiences Can Alter Genome

the Psychiatry Advisor take:

Evidence is mounting that traumatic experiences can have such a profound impact on people, they may even influence genetic expression.

Tania L. Roth, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware, provides an interesting review on how epigenetic mechanisms can have a long-term effect on the brain and behavior. Such mechanisms belong to a class of molecular mechanisms by which environmental influences, including stress, can interact with the human genome.

Alterations to the genome can play in role in mental disorders, especially post-traumatic stress disorder, given that the condition requires exposure to a traumatic effect, and genes are sensitive to stress and trauma, Roth wrote in Frontiers in Psychiatry.

For example, she explored several studies discussing DNA methyation, a biochemical process by which the genome’s expression can be altered, and how that process is tied to PTSD. Examining DNA methylation can not only be a useful biological market for diagnosing PTSD, but also a predictor of treatment outcomes.

"Together, data presented in these […] articles are consistent with the notion that epigenetic programming early in life confers an enhanced risk on disease development upon re-exposure to trauma or stress,” Roth wrote.