Despite its prevalence and MD’s enormous burden on our health care systems (Scott et al., 2003), our treatments are almost entirely symptomatic. There is even dispute about the value of medication (Khin et al., 2011, Kirsch et al., 2008, Turner et al., 2008, Vöhringer and Ghaemi, 2011) and psychological therapies (Cuijpers et al., 2008, Cuijpers et al., 2010, Cuijpers et al., 2011). Genetic analysis, by identifying risk variants and thereby increasing our understanding of how MD arises, could lead to improved prevention and the development of new and more effective therapies.
