If you could predict how well your clients might be able to deal with stress, just based on a blood or saliva
sample, would that change your treatment approach?
There’s a specific gene that’s been getting a lot of attention lately because it affects how the brain processes serotonin – a chemical created inside the body believed to be responsible for maintaining mood balance.
The serotonin transporter gene codes for a molecule that regulates the amount of serotonin signaling between brain cells, and it’s a key target for the treatment of mood disorders. It’s also well known for its involvement in clinical depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
And recent discoveries in epigenetics are indicating that changes to how the serotonin transporter gene gets expressed might be involved in a person’s brain response to threats.
Now, I’ve talked a little about what epigenetics is before, but here it is in a nutshell: There are tiny molecules called ‘methyl groups’ that can attach themselves to our DNA, and when this happens, they can change how a gene is expressed. Essentially, the methyl groups will regulate where and when a gene is active.
What makes epigenetics different from ‘classical genetics’ is that, while the genetic code of your DNA doesn’t get changed structurally, stress or other factors in the environment can cause chemical changes in your body. The environmental signals can trigger those methyl groups to park themselves on your DNA, affecting the way your genetic code gets read.
Researchers at Duke University knew that differences in the DNA sequence of the serotonin transporter gene seemed to give some folks exaggerated responses to stress (and seemed to play a role in depression). But they wanted to look at how epigenetics might be at work here.
Led by Ahmad Hariri, PhD, the researchers recruited 80 college-aged participants who are part of the ongoing Duke Neurogenetics Study (DNS) – a collaborative study that’s working to link genes, brain activity, and other biological markers that could indicate a risk for mental illness in young adults.
First they used non-invasive brain imaging to look at the amygdala of each participant while showing them pictures of angry or fearful faces and watching their responses. The amygdala governs how we respond to threat or stress.
Next, they measured the amount of methylation (how many methyl groups were present) on serotonin transporter DNA that they isolated from the participants’ saliva.
And they found a strong correlation between the amount of methylation and the amount of reactivity they saw in the amygdala. Plus, they found that the amount of methylation seemed to be a better predictor of amygdala activity than any other variation in the serotonin transporter gene.
But the researchers wanted to make sure that what they were seeing wasn’t a one-time thing.
They took a look at a different set of participants, this time 96 adolescents participating in the Teen Alcohol Outcomes Study (TAOS) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Using the same methods as before, the group found an even stronger link between methylation and amygdala reactivity.
So, epigenetics could be playing an important role in whether or not we’re getting enough serotonin to the brain, and in turn, that could be affecting our moods or how we respond to trauma.
Now we do need to be cautious – this work is strictly correlative, and it’s all just getting started. The next step will be to find out how methylation directly affects the brain.
If you’d like to read more about the work of Dr. Hariri and his team, you can find the full study published in Nature Neuroscience, volume 17, pp. 1153-1155.
Eventually this work might help us predict mental illness, using saliva or blood samples to show us whether or
not genes for specific disorders are, or are not, expressed.
You can learn more about how epigenetics is involved in trauma and what that could mean for the way you approach treatment – click here for our courses on trauma.
So what do you think . . .
. . . if a tiny sample of saliva could help you better detect a client’s risk for something like posttraumatic
stress disorder, would you incorporate that into your treatment? And what sort of benefits do you think there might be from this? You can let me know what you think in the space below.
Please inform me the name of saliva test to detect PTSD. Thank U
This reminds me of a saliva based test for Vit C I tested in Texas many years ago. I believe that vitamin is evaporated with stress, and as a field nurse saw interesting correlation.
Now,working with employees in a 4000 employee hospital, I am always intrigued with rapid intervention of stress. This could be helpful with helping employees to focus on what you are saying about their taking their sx. seriously and take care of themselves.
Thank you for this information. I find it absolutely fascinating. As someone who has practiced
Primal Therapy for almost 40 years I believe we should include birth and pre-birth trauma in stress
disorders, not just growth and attachment. So much of our personality and biological vulnerabilities
can be shaped by those experiences.
Very interesting to read about these methyl groups changing how our DNA is expressed. I will look forward to more research in this area. It would be terrific if we could diagnose the propensity for certain mental illnesses just from checking a person’s saliva. Then we could take preventive measures.
That’s a smart answer to a tricky qusoiten
So, higher methyl groups, greater inhibition of serotonin, higher amygdala reactivity….A saliva test would show upfront those at risk for higher amygdala activity, which may signal higher frequency of scheduled appointments, self- calming practices reviewed in sessions as EFT, deep breathing, meditation techniques, in addition to EMDR, TFT, CBT specific to events in session. Personality testing due to higher reactivity and environmental controls: activity lists for bilateral reintegration wall-taped for easy viewing, phone contacts for support/reminders, daily AA meetings, distraction in stabilizing activities: boogey boarding, basketball, running. Instead of gradual discovery, saliva testing can prompt high frequency, reactivity calming therapy with self-calming techniques and environmental supports.
So good to hear more research is going on in finding clues and healing for our mental health. Useful in de-stigmatizing too. Look forward to learn more as research reveals more studies and findings.
Not being a practicing psychologist, I would definitely guide him to meditation and higher consciousness, which have changed many lives through ashram prison programs. This creates a different relationship with the brain and heart. As we connect to the heart, the brain changes and so does the personality. I’ve seen this take place in ashrams that I’ve been involved with and I’ve seen miracles in senior citizens who have taken my classes! Actually in the 70s one of the leading teachers of Meditation named meditation the natural high. So before prescribing drugs, I would go for the ones made by the body:-)
According to what I’ve been reading it is having the methyl groups on our DNA that suppresses the expression of a gene rather than losing them causing the expression, as you are indicating. Now this was in relation to obesity so perhaps it is different in activation of the amygdala?
Hi Linda, you’re absolutely correct about the methyl groups’ activity suppressing gene expression. And that’s just what the researchers found is going on here. The methyl groups are suppressing the serotonin transporter gene from being expressed, and serotonin is being inhibited. At the same time, the amygdala is showing increased reactivity. So basically, there’s a strong correlation between the inhibition of serotonin (via methylation) and activation of the amygdala.
I think we need to address what emotional trauma can look like because people usually think of “T” trauma in their own lives rather than intergenerationally transmitted trauma.
I see the possibility here of monitoring risk for depression and following response to any therapy for depression, but I would wonder what the cost would be? Might it be prohibitively high and therefore available only to researchers?
Thanks for sharing these amazing findings that prove the organic basis for many actual illnesses.It would be wonderful to prove through saliva test (so simple)that a particular, most likely attachment based psychotherapy could reverse the extra methylation process, So the increased reaction to stress could be proven to decrease by talk therapy.
Many thanks for reinforcing this approach.
Best Kati
TRUE, SALIVA, ACCORDING TO THE TEACHINGS OF HANNA KROEGER, IS THE MOST ACCURATR READING OF CHI IN THE HUMAN BODY
This research has enormous potential. Clients often suffer from feeling that “it’s all in my head” or that they have some character flaw and so on. Client, and their support people, would benefit from knowing that there is a real physical reason for emotional/mental illness such as depression. I personally believe that we are on the frontier of such medical research. Having a way to measure a mental illness indicator could help to revolutionize how we treat mental illness. I look forward to seeing this area of research grow. Thanks for sharing it in terms I could understand.
Excellent information! Thank you. I recently learned that I have a gene called MTHFR. Up to 40% of the population ( at least in the U.S.) has it. This gene affects the methylation process and is being associated with emotional imbalances and many of the common chronic diseases. I have spent many years with my own self-healing process and have been fortunate thus far in maintaining a state of good health at age 69. I intend to continue doing so, especially now that my physician has placed me on a nutritional program to help my body with it’s methylation processes. She diagnosed me with blood work, but I believe MTHFR can also be detected through saliva. I’m wondering if this is the kind of research that is discussed in this article. So many wonderful pieces coming together!
This kind of research is very appealing to me. Proofs by imaging of both brain health (or lack) and brain activity (or lack) are far more *real* than mental constructs. Chemical bonds, physiology, and neurology now have a chance at making better sense of why we are the way we are.
I’m wondering if treatment of trauma reduces the number of methyl groups in the saliva.
I am intersting in seeing the emerging research with different age groups and a variety of designs in the studies before considering a saliva or blood test .
Thank you for another great article Ruth. I am so grateful to see this information being brought to the forefront.
I would like to share a personal experience that may be helpful to others.
For many years I had experienced daily trauma symptoms. . . the kind that puts you on red alert all the time. Counseling, EFT, NLP, mindfulness practices, and many other tools gave some relief, but I could never quite get to the point of peace. This spring it resulted in an outbreak of the shingles virus that lasted for 5 months with severe nerve pain. In deciding on a treatment, I chose Tramadol, which acts as a serotonin inhibitor. Taking the medication removed all of my symptoms of trauma. I wanted to have this peace and calm in my life forever. Not wanting to be on drugs indefinitely, I researched other possibilities and decided on St. John’s wart oil that I rub on my wrists three times a day. It keeps my serotonin level balanced and I am calm.
I’m not sure. I would have to be very careful to keep from coloring how I “see” the whole person and of how I interpret the behavior after receiving any test results. I would need to be very aware of the possibilities of my own subconscious leanings related to the information.
I go through the article and get useful information. As I think managing
Stress decreases as we age. But tapping and meditation do wonders and
Make us more capable to deal the stress in a very easy way,. I think Tapping and
Meditation control serotonin secretion , a mood controller
chemical. RESEARCHER in this field can tell us better the reason
For it
Yours
Shabana
OK, I am picturing the client comes in to the mental health clinic, a nurse takes a saliva swab, the report goes to a psychiatrist who then makes a decision based on the results of the swab as to what medication to prescribe. How does it impact the talk therapy or psychotherapy or family/marriage therapy ? Not sure of the answer to this. Now if we have evidenced based methods that are proven to increase serotonin either through changes in methylation or changes in the gene then we might have some grounds for changing or making decisions about what therapy to use. I continue to be a firm believer in the person of the therapist having watched supervisees as well as personal experience. It might turn out that the presence of certain people has a direct affect on methylation and that is the reason for therapeutic success.
Not sure how it could help yet. Maybe saliva testing could be used to track progress in treating trauma patients. Maybe it could be used to predict sensitivity to stress in children so stress innoculation therapies could be provided to at risk children. Interesting…
The college age and teenage groups studied seem to trend to greater methylation the younger the group–any correlation to the hormonal changes occurring in adolescence, or what would older groups show? Delighted with the inquiry, appreciate the focus, and look forward to more research in this area.
Why not? Saliva test is easy!
Interesting but almost too early to make a comment. Let’s see what happens next in this area of research.
My question is, how do you reverse methylsation. What value is knowing this person is predisposed to stress if they are already in my office because they are stressed? I would like more resolution and moving forward out of the problem .
I think of those brain changes as originally functional. A heightened amygdala sensitivity is of survival value when you are still in life-threatening danger. Passing that on in genes would be of benefit if your descendants are going to be living in such danger. The changes are no longer of value if your situation seems hopeless, as in the holocaust, and you may go into freeze mode, or depression. The changes are no longer of value when you (and your descendants) are out of danger, i.e., in a “normal” living situation; you may then develop “symptoms.” Then we get to see you in therapy.
As a neurotherpist (neurofeedback), I have been aware of other saliva sourced tests, such the TAP
(Tempora-Adrenal-Profile), that yield important information about the current state of adrenals, and how over-stressed someone has been. This new tool could help in advancing preplanning for how to treat those we meet with chronic trauma, complex trauma, and PTSD. I look forward to more information about this. A more specific NICABM track about neurochemistry and trauma might be of interest to others also.
Much of what is here is too bassic to bevuseful BUT the neuroscience is wonderful and even if repetitious makes learning deepen in retention. I would love this.