5HTT is associated with the phenotype psychological flexibility: results from a randomized clinical trial

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Adaption to changing environments is evolutionarily advantageous. Studies that link genetic and phenotypic expression of flexible adjustment to one's context are largely lacking. In this study, we tested the importance of psychological flexibility, or goal-related context sensitivity, in an interaction between psychotherapy outcome for panic disorder with agoraphobia (PD/AG) and a genetic polymorphism. Given the established role of the 5HTT-LPR polymorphism in behavioral flexibility, we tested whether this polymorphism (short group vs. long group) impacted therapy response as a function of various endophenotypes (i.e., psychological flexibility, panic, agoraphobic avoidance, and anxiety sensitivity). Patients with PD/AG were recruited from a large multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial on cognitive-behavioral therapy. Pre- to post-treatment changes by 5HTT polymorphism were analyzed. 5HTT polymorphism status differentiated pre- to post-treatment changes in the endophenotype psychological flexibility (effect size difference d = 0.4, p < 0.05), but none of the specific symptom-related endophenotypes consistently for both the intent-to-treat sample (n = 228) and the treatment completers (n = 194). Based on the consistency of these findings with existing theory on behavioral flexibility, the specificity of the results across phenotypes, and the consistency of results across analyses (i.e., completer and intent to treat), we conclude that 5HTT polymorphism and the endophenotype psychological flexibility are important variables for the treatment of PD/AG. The endophenotype psychological flexibility may help bridge genetic and psychological literatures. Despite the limitation of the post hoc nature of these analyses, further study is clearly warranted.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)399-406
Number of pages8
JournalEuropean archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience
Volume265
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2015
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 84930761988
ORCID /0000-0001-7646-8265/work/142232587

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adult, Agoraphobia/genetics, Analysis of Variance, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy/methods, Female, Genotype, Humans, Intention to Treat Analysis, Male, Middle Aged, Panic Disorder/genetics, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide/genetics, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins/genetics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Time Factors