Study finds an overlap between genes linked to subjective well-being and psychiatric disorders microbiologystudy

In psychology, the term subjective well-being (SWB) is used to describe the extent to which different people feel happy and satisfied with their lives. While some studies have found that there is a link between SWB and the diagnosis of some psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety disorders, their possible genetic commonalities have not yet been clearly delineated.

Researchers at Sungkyunkwan University, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital and other institutes in South Korea recently carried out a study aimed at better understanding the genes that could contribute to people’s feelings of happiness and life satisfaction, as well as their possible connection to psychiatric disorders.

Their findings, published in Nature Human Behavior, pin-point some brain tissues and genes linked to SWB, suggesting that they might also play a part in the development of psychiatric disorders.

“We are a team of clinical psychiatrists and geneticists with a shared interest in the genetic underpinnings of mental health,” Woojae Myung and Hong-Hee Won, senior authors of the paper, told Medical Xpress.

“Through both clinical experience and research, we’ve come to recognize that difficulties in experiencing happiness are not only common in individuals with psychiatric disorders, but they often persist even after the primary symptoms of the disorder have been treated. These residual symptoms can significantly impair quality of life and are frequently overlooked in clinical care.”

The primary objective of the recent work by Myung, Won, Dr. Jin Young Jung and their colleagues was to further investigate the molecular and genetic factors contributing to SWB, while also looking at their relationship to psychiatric disorders. By better understanding these mechanisms, the researchers hope to eventually devise more effective and targeted interventions aimed at boosting people’s well-being, even if they are not or are no longer experiencing psychiatric symptoms.

“From a genetics standpoint, ‘well-being’ is a subjective experience that may be influenced by cultural and environmental factors,” said Myung and Won. “Yet we hypothesized that the neural and biological pathways that underlie this experience might share commonalities across populations. That’s why we believed it was essential to investigate whether the genetic architecture of SWB is consistent across diverse ancestry groups. This cross-population perspective became a central focus of our study.”

Notably, most available large-scale genetic databases, such as the UK Biobank, were collected in Europe and the United States, thus most of the data they include was collected from individuals of European ancestry. In contrast, genetic data sourced from non-European people remains scarce. The researchers tried to include both genetic data collected from both European and non-European populations in their analyses.

“Fortunately, we were able to access genetic data related to SWB not only from European cohorts but also from Korean participants,” explained Myung and Won. “This gave us a unique opportunity to explore how genetic factors associated with well-being might operate across very different cultural and environmental contexts.

“However, when it came to psychiatric disorders, there was a notable imbalance—genetic data from East Asian populations were far more limited. As a result, much of the core genetic analysis in our study relied on European datasets, especially for mental health conditions.”

Past genetic studies showed that a predisposition to mental health conditions and SWB are both “polygenic.” This essentially means that they are influenced by several genetic variants, each of which has a very small effect on people’s actual mental health and well-being.

“To explore the genetic link between well-being and psychiatric disorders, we used statistical tools that take advantage of this polygenic architecture,” said Myung and Won.

“These methods allowed us to estimate how much the genetic variants influencing one trait (like depression) overlap with those influencing another trait (like SWB). This approach helped us reveal important patterns of shared genetic influence between these two domains.”

The analysis carried out by the researchers yielded very interesting results, suggesting that genes play a key role in both people’s happiness and their mental health. For instance, the team found that approximately 93% of the genetic variants linked to depression were also tied to how happy people feel in their everyday lives.

“This suggests that the same biological factors that influence our risk to develop depression also shape our ability to experience well-being,” said Myung and Won. “We were also able to confirm these findings in two very different populations—Europeans and Koreans—which makes the results even more robust. It means that these genetic links aren’t just specific to one group of people, but may reflect fundamental aspects of how the human brain works.”

Notably, the researchers identified various new genes that appear to influence both happiness and mental health. Some of these genes, including ZMYND8 and LINC02163, are known to contribute to the regulation of emotions and were previously found to be active in important brain regions that play a role in emotional processing and decision-making, such as the prefrontal cortex and amygdala.

“Overall, our study brings us one step closer to understanding why some people are more prone to mental illness or find it harder to feel happy,” said Myung and Won. “In the long run, we hope this knowledge can lead to better, more personalized approaches to mental health care.”

Overall, the results gathered by this team of researchers suggest that some of the genes contributing to SWB also play a part in people’s mental health. In their next studies, the researchers plan to further examine the genetic link between happiness and mental health, as this could ultimately help to develop new interventions aimed at enhancing the well-being of psychiatric patients.

“New analytic tools are making it possible to explore more precise questions—like whether specific genes have truly causal effects on both traits, or whether the same gene influences well-being and mental illness in similar or different ways,” said Myung and Won.

“Another important direction for future research will be expanding the scope of genetic data. With larger and more detailed datasets, we may be able to detect rare genetic variants that—although uncommon—have a strong impact on a person’s ability to feel happy or their risk of developing psychiatric disorders.”

As part of their future work, the researchers hope to create new genetic datasets that also include mental health information from East Asian individuals. These datasets could fuel further research and eventually aid the creation of more inclusive treatments that consider the unique characteristics and needs of a wider range of people.

“Ultimately, our goal is to translate these insights into tangible benefits—helping people who continue to struggle with low well-being, even after receiving treatment for their mental health,” added Myung and Won. “We believe that understanding the biology behind these challenges is an important step toward making that possible.”

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