Predictive genetic testing for Huntington's chorea

The development of predictive tests for genetic diseases such as Huntington 's chorea, not only raises new ethical and psychosocial issues for people a t risk for genetic diseases, but also poses a challenge for the professiona ls treating them. The number of patients facing these issues will grow cons iderably with future advances of the human genome project. While there is general agreement among geneticists and neurologists that co ncurrent psychosocial and psychotherapeutic counselling for patients consid ering getting tested should be a prerequisite for predictive test-ing, much less agreement exists in the field of psychotherapy on the form and conten t of psychotherapeutic counselling for patients with a genetic risk factor. By their very nature, hereditary genetic conditions are a family affair. W hatever the test result will be in the end, it will have repercussions on o ther family members. In consequence, this article argues in favor of a coun selling approach that is family and resource oriented. From their experienc e with a collaborative treatment project, the authors present the major top ics which psychotherapists need to address when working with patients at ri sk.