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by ellopoppit 1459 days ago
There is neither one or many genes or any objective biological test that is used to diagnose any psychiatric condition in the DSM.

"psychiatric diagnosis still relies exclusively on fallible subjective judgments rather than objective biological tests"

-Allen Francis, Professor and Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, chair of the American Psychiatric Association task force overseeing the development and revision of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)

1 comments

The mechanism of gene expression means the presence of certain genes may cause an individual to be more or less susceptible to certain stimuli.

So yes, the presence or absence of genes alone may not determine much, but together taking account to one's environment and upbringing, may have explanatory power.

It's similar to medical diagnoses where the presence of X genes mean someone is Y% more likely to exhibit Z condition.