Psychological Effects Of Genetic Testing

The medical world has had many advancements in the past twenty years. Perhaps one of the most significant advances is the completion of the Genome Project. The Genome Project fully mapped a human’s entire DNA. This mapping opened up the world to many new ideas such as genetic testing. Genetic testing involves looking at a person’s DNA for abnormalities in the sequencing. Testing can happen to tell whether the person carries the gene of the disorder, will have that disorder, or the disorder has already developed (“Genetic Testing”). However, this new testing should not yet have reliance put into it. Genetic testing has no benefit for patients and should not take place. In particular, knowing your chances of getting a disorder can have worse …show more content…
Those who may not even have a diagnosis may stress so much over the results that it can cause major psychological issues. Not only can this affect those who don’t know, but it can also affect those who do. A great example lies within Robin Williams. He committed suicide because he had a disease that he knew would progress and make things worse. Concerns over the rise of deaths by suicide for those who know their future do exist. In this case, it is better to not know the future and to die of the eventual disease, than to know and agonize over what may come. Additionally, because genetic testing has recently been developed, there is no way to guarantee that the results have the correct interpretations. Most of the genetic testing …show more content…
It can also happen when couples try to conceive a child. With prenatal genetic testing, parents and insurance companies can be informed if the child has the risk of developing the disease or the disease already exists(Peters). Not only may the parents have concerns about their child, but insurance companies may deny coverage before the baby has even been born. Just like any genetic testing, they still posses new qualities and this causes them to become unreliable. In most cases, they cannot tell whether the child will have the disease, but the chances that they will (Peters). Insurance companies may then deny coverage to a child who doesn’t even have a disorder. Parents also want their child to have perfect health. If they even see a hint of a disorder, they may choose to abort that child without actual knowledge of whether or not the baby has the