Differences in people’s DNA have previously been linked to PTSD, but research on this topic has rarely considered how different types of traumatic experiences might affect these genetic links. We found that the broad effect of the genome on PTSD does indeed differ across different experiences, and that this is also sometimes true when we look at the effects of specific genes.
Dr Jonathan Coleman, Senior Lecturer in Statistical Genetics at King’s College London and the study’s senior author
17 September 2026
Genetic risk for PTSD may depend on the trauma experienced
Some genes may make you more vulnerable to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from certain types of trauma than others, according to new research from King’s College London published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology.
The study findings suggest that what happens to you and your genetic makeup both affect your risk of developing the disorder. Common symptoms of PTSD can include re-experiencing a traumatic event (e.g through flashbacks, nightmares or intrusive thoughts), doing things to avoid being reminded of that event, and ongoing feelings of stress or negative emotions.
However, not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD, with risk for the condition being shaped by both environmental and genetic factors. The largest genetic study of PTSD - a separate paper, which looked at 150,000 people with the condition — identified 95 genetic loci (a specific region on a chromosome) associated with PTSD and 43 genes with strong evidence for a causal effect.
The study team analysed mental health and genetic data from a total of 144,702 individuals in the UK Biobank and three studies in the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) BioResource and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Maudsley: Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression (GLAD), Eating Disorders Genetic Initiative (EDGI) UK and COVID-19 Psychiatry and Neurological Genetics (COPING).
Individuals were assessed for PTSD symptoms and asked whether they had experienced eleven different traumatic experiences. These included five childhood traumas: emotional abuse or neglect, physical abuse or neglect, and sexual abuse; and six adulthood traumas: serious accident, serious illness, sexual assault, violent crime, war exposure, or witnessing death. The researchers looked at whether the influence of a trauma on PTSD differs among people based on their genetics. They did this at three different scales: polygenic risk scores (at a genome-wide level); individual genes; and specific genetic variants.
Childhood trauma often linked to PTSD symptoms and gene-trauma interaction
Overall, the researchers found that childhood traumas tended to be more strongly associated with PTSD symptoms and have greater levels of gene–trauma interaction than those experienced during adulthood. This suggests that genetics might have been particularly important in shaping how people responded to childhood trauma. Childhood abuse was more strongly associated with PTSD symptoms than childhood neglect; the association with childhood neglect, although more moderate, was more likely to be influenced by genetic factors.
The researchers also found that some of the main genes that have been linked to PTSD interacted particularly strongly with certain trauma types. For example, FAM120A — a gene involved in the brain’s processing of fear and stress — was found to interact significantly more strongly with childhood emotional neglect than any of the other traumas studied.
Future research to improve treatment
Broadly, our findings fit with the biology of PTSD being based in how the brain develops, how the cells of the brain communicate, and how the body responds to stress. Although, when we looked across genes, we didn’t identify any particular biological process that could explain why certain traumas seemed more strongly linked to genetics, so more research is needed.
Jacob Knyspel, a PhD student, King’s College London and the study’s lead author
The study authors suggest these findings highlight the importance of factoring trauma exposure information into future PTSD genetics research. This understanding could help to improve PTSD treatment through targeted screening of people exposed to, or at risk of particular traumatic events who may develop PTSD to ensure they get support as early as possible.
The study was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) part of the UKRI.
‘Identifying differential interactions of potentially traumatic experiences with genetic risk for posttraumatic stress disorder’ Knyspel et al was published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology.
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Senior Lecturer in Statistical Genetics