title: Why do many psychiatric disorders emerge during adolescence?
abstract: The peak age of onset for many psychiatric disorders is adolescence, a time of remarkable physical and behavioural changes. The processes in the brain that underlie these behavioural changes have been the subject of recent investigations. What do we know about the maturation of the human brain during adolescence? Do structural changes in the cerebral cortex reflect synaptic pruning? Are increases in white-matter volume driven by myelination? Is the adolescent brain more or less sensitive to reward? Finding answers to these questions might enable us to further our understanding of mental health during adolescence.
authors.affiliation: Brain & Body Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK. tomas.paus@nottingham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Tomás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paus
authors.forename: Matcheri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keshavan
authors.forename: Jay N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Giedd
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology*; D017668:Age of Onset; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D010379:Peer Group; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology