Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Dec 2021)
From Personalized Medicine to Precision Psychiatry?
Abstract
Eva Češková,1– 4 Petr Šilhán1,2 1Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic; 2Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic; 3Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic; 4Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech RepublicCorrespondence: Petr ŠilhánDepartment of Psychiatry, University Hospital Ostrava, 17. listopadu 1790, Ostrava, 708 52, Czech RepublicTel +420 597 373 145Fax +420 597 373 314Email [email protected]: Personalised medicine aims to find an individualized approach for each particular patient. Most factors used in current psychiatry, however, depend on the assessment made by the individual clinician and lack a higher degree of reliability. Precision medicine bases decisions on quantifiable indicators available thanks to the tremendous progress in science and technology facilitating the acquisition, processing and analysis of huge amounts of data. So far, psychiatry has not been benefiting enough from the advanced diagnostic technologies; nevertheless, we are witnessing the dawn of the era of precision psychiatry, starting with the gathering of sufficient amounts of data and its analysis by the means of artificial intelligence and machine learning. First results of this approach in psychiatry are available, which facilitate diagnosis assessment, course prediction, and appropriate treatment choice. These processes are often so complex and difficult to understand that they may resemble a “black box”, which can slow down the acceptance of the results of this approach in clinical practice. Still, bringing precision medicine including psychiatry to standard clinical practice is a big challenge that can result in a completely new and transformative concept of health care. Such extensive changes naturally have both their supporters and opponents. This paper aims to familiarize clinically oriented physicians with precision psychiatry and to attract their attention to its recent developments. We cover the theoretical basis of precision medicine, its specifics in psychiatry, and provide examples of its use in the field of diagnostic assessment, course prediction, and appropriate treatment planning.Keywords: personalised medicine, personalised psychiatry, precision medicine, precision psychiatry
