OTHER/DIMENSIONS OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Sensitivity, Specificity, Point Prevalence, Base Rate

• Sensitivity: probability a person with the disorder tests positive.

• Specificity: probability a person without the disorder tests negative.

• Point Prevalence: % of people with disorder right now.

• Base Rate: overall frequency of disorder in population.
  Base rate is crucial: low base rates → more false positives even with good tests.

How Polygenic Scores Work

• Add up thousands of genetic variants associated with risk.

• Weighted by GWAS effect sizes.

• Produces a “risk score” relative to the population distribution.

• Predicts likelihood but not destiny.

GWAS: What It Is and How It's Done

• Scan genomes of huge samples (100k–1M people).

• Identify SNPs more common in people with a trait.

• Result: lists of associated variants + polygenic risk estimates.

• Requires correction for ancestry and linkage disequilibrium.

DONE

ODNE