Genetic Testing and Psychology

Genetic advances are changing the practice of medicine in innumerable ways, as genomic medicine is being integrated into many aspects of health care. Psychological factors play a large role in the translation of genetic knowledge into health benefits for individuals and families. Individual factors such as risk perception, distress and distress management, health beliefs, and health behaviors all significantly impact how someone accesses, understands, and acts on information about genetic risk. It is therefore essential that in this age of genomic medicine, attention is also given to the psychological factors that affect individuals and families with concerns about hereditary predispositions to illness.