These early strategic decisions proved important: results from the first wave of psychiatric GWAS, circa 2008, were unimpressive. Although we were careful not to hype GWAS (9, 10), some prominent commentators voiced strong doubts about its value – even though careful review of the early results showed unequivocal indications of genetic effects. The first wave studies were simply underpowered, and combining studies to increase power was logical. Nevertheless, we persisted, and a 2012 letter signed by 96 psychiatric genetics investigators (“Don’t give up on GWAS”) anticipated the utility of GWAS should sample sizes increase (25).
