Multiple Diagnoses in Mental Health: Why It’s Common
Viele psychische Erkrankungen teilen genetische Ursachen. Eine große Analyze erklärt
Often, mental illnesses are based on a common biological foundation.
Depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) overlap especially closely. they share the majority of their genetic risk. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are also genetically more closely related than previously thought. This is why the boundaries between diagnoses become blurred in everyday life – and therapies often onyl alleviate parts of a biologically related clinical picture.
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The evaluation comes from the international Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and was published in the journal Nature at the end of 2025. Analyzed were 14 psychiatric disorders,including depression,anxiety disorders,ADHD,autism,and addiction disorders. A central finding: the genetic risks of these disorders overlap substantially.
This has a noticeable impact on clinical practice.Diagnoses are still based on symptoms, not laboratory values. If the complaints change, the diagnosis often changes as well. Though, the genetic basis remains similar. this explains why many people receive multiple psychiatric diagnoses throughout their lives,even though the underlying biological risk has hardly changed.
Five genetic patterns shape mental health
The analysis assigns the 14 disorders to five overarching genetic groups. These groups explain, on average, around two-thirds of the genetic susceptibility of individual diagnoses. It’s not about isolated “disease genes,” but about broad risk patterns that connect diffrent disorders.
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This article was created in a content partnership with Diagnostic Variability in Mental Health
Diagnoses in mental health frequently change over an individual’s lifetime, despite often consistent underlying biological factors, because diagnostic criteria rely on observed symptoms rather than objective laboratory tests. Mental health diagnoses are primarily based on clinical observation of symptoms,as there are currently no widely accepted biological markers or lab tests to definitively confirm most mental health conditions. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association, is the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals, and it relies on symptom checklists and clinical judgment. This reliance on subjective symptom reporting and interpretation can lead to diagnostic shifts as individuals experience changes in symptom presentation, life circumstances, or even clinician perspectives. The absence of objective biomarkers means that the same underlying biological vulnerability can manifest differently at different times, leading to different diagnoses. Such as, an individual experiencing depressive symptoms might initially be diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder. Later, if anxiety symptoms become more prominent, the diagnosis could shift to Generalized Anxiety Disorder, even if the underlying neurobiological factors contributing to both conditions remain similar. Research suggests that while diagnostic labels may change,the underlying biological vulnerabilities often remain relatively stable.A 2023 study published in Nature identified common biological factors across several mental health disorders,suggesting a shared underlying pathophysiology. These factors include genetic predispositions, neuroinflammation, and disruptions in brain circuitry. The study found evidence of transdiagnostic constructs – underlying dimensions of psychopathology that cut across traditional diagnostic categories. This supports the idea that diagnostic labels are, to some extent, artificial constructs imposed on a continuum of underlying biological and psychological processes. For instance, individuals diagnosed with different anxiety disorders (social anxiety, panic disorder, generalized anxiety) often share similar patterns of brain activity in regions involved in fear processing, such as the amygdala.This suggests a common biological basis despite differing symptom profiles. The frequent changes in diagnosis highlight the need for a more nuanced understanding of mental illness and a shift towards personalized treatment approaches. The Food and drug Administration (FDA) is increasingly focused on developing treatments that target specific biological mechanisms rather than broad diagnostic categories. Research is ongoing to identify reliable biomarkers for mental health conditions, which could lead to more objective and accurate diagnoses. The BRAIN Initiative,launched in 2013,is a major effort to map the brain and understand its functions,with the goal of developing new treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders. As of January 8, 2026, there have been no major breakthroughs in identifying definitive lab tests for most mental health conditions, but research continues to advance our understanding of the biological underpinnings of these disorders.The Role of Symptom-Based Diagnosis
Biological Consistency and Diagnostic Change
Implications for treatment and Research