The Importance of Face-to-Face Genetic Counseling
Knowing your family history can help you figure out your risk of certain diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. For example, women with a mother, sister, or daughter who have had breast cancer have twice the risk of breast cancer themselves.
Family history is a good proxy for genetic information, but there are now more than 1,200 types of genetic tests available that will examine your DNA directly. (International Herald Tribune, July 30, 2005) Genetic counselors help you take maximum advantage of genetic testing with a minimum of stress.
The National Society of Genetic Counselors describes what happens at a typical first visit to a genetic counselor.
Genetic counselors frequently speak to clients about complex scientific and emotional topics. Usually the issues involve genetic conditions or birth defects or possibilities of those things occurring. The topic you bring to the genetic counseling session may determine the content of the discussion however you can expect the genetic counselor to have specialized knowledge and be able to answer your questions, maybe even to anticipate some of your questions. Often, the genetic counselor acts as an interpreter for the medical information and a support person if the information turns out to be stressful.
Your genetic counselor may ask extensive questions about your family history, as this is the way we understand inheritance patterns. It might be helpful for you to use the opportunity of a pending genetic counseling visit to research the health and medical conditions of extended relatives.
At-home genetic testing may seem more private and secure, but with most consumers’ limited understanding of the implications of undesirable genetic results, it could also cause confusion over proper preventive measures that are as extreme as prophylactic mastectomy (removal of the breasts) or oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries). It could even go the opposite way in making people feel invincible, leading them to ignore healthy lifestyle habits including routine wellness check-ups. In fact, genetic counselors often find that a person’s risk is too low to warrant testing. (Breast Cancer Action, June 2005)
Worst of all, our understanding of the role individual genes play in causing disease is still not clear. We live in a complex world that becomes increasingly mysterious as we examine it on a molecular level. The genetic tests of today measure very imprecisely the health risks we encounter in everyday life from the interaction of our genes with the environment (diet, exercise, exposures, etc.). Qualified genetic counselors are here to help us sort through the genetic rigamarole.
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