Towards incorporating genetic risk scores into network models

In the past decade, network models in the fields of psychopathology and psychiatry have gained considerable attention and recognition. In such network models, mental disorders are no longer regarded as reflective latent... [ view full abstract ]

In the past decade, network models in the fields of psychopathology and psychiatry have gained considerable attention and recognition. In such network models, mental disorders are no longer regarded as reflective latent variables, but are assumed to arise from interactions between symptoms and other psychological, biological, and sociological agents. Several studies have recently focused on disentangling relations between environmental risk factors and individual symptoms of specific mental disorders, but in spite of the clear potential clinical relevance, no studies to date investigated the impact of genes on symptom networks. This talk will therefore introduce a theoretical framework on how genetic risk scores could be incorporated into network models, followed by an empirical example of a symptom network of psychosis.