A growing body of research has begun to highlight differences in the way racial and ethnic groups respond to psychiatric medication.
[2] Though enzyme activity is genetically influenced, it can also be altered by cultural and environmental factors such as diet, the use of other medications, alcohol and disease states.
[9] Further, the way an individual expresses and reacts to the symptoms of psychiatric illness, and the cultural expectations of the physician, may affect the diagnosis a patient receives.
Individuals who receive a higher dose of psychiatric medication than needed may discontinue treatment because of side effects, or they may develop toxic levels that lead to serious complications.
[6] Someday there may be a simple blood test to predict how an individual will respond to a specific class of drugs; research in these fields fall in the domain of pharmacogenomics and pharmacometabolomics.