Dr. Jay Giedd and I recently posted the following article on adolescent brain research within a global context for International Youth Day. Their website can be found here.
Understanding the Adolescent Brain
By Alexander Denker and Dr. Jay Giedd
In 2013, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry called attention to the paucity and maldistribution of child and adolescent psychiatrists throughout the United States. Lack of available providers in rural as well as low-income areas creates dramatic inequality in available mental health treatment options. Clearly, mental health support and initiatives are even scarcer in developing countries. This can result in severe lack of available treatment and lack of empowerment for youth and their families not only in fighting their disease or mental health condition, but the stigma that may come with it.
The peak age of onset for mental health disorders is 14 years old, according to a 2001-2003 National Comorbidity Survey Replication based on an in-person assessment of more than 9,000 people. Adolescence is therefore a critical period in which awareness of the linkages between behavior, environment and brain resiliency are particularly important.
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers mental health reform to be a human rights issue. We need to ensure that our policies include investment in brain research – especially as it relates to adolescent development.
The Adolescent Brain is Resilient
At the National Institutes of Health, our research demonstrates that the adolescent brain is actively shaped by its environment. This creates a vulnerability to negative events but also makes the adolescent brain particularly responsive to positive interventions. Early intervention and diagnosis during adolescence and teenage years may increase the chance for a positive outcome. The older we get the less pliable the brain is.
Worldwide, children and adolescents face a myriad of challenges and experience vastly diverse cultures. Investment in developmental neuroscience may provide an inroad to understanding gene/environment interaction and find the neuroanatomical and functional commonalities to build attainable interventions.
Future Growth of Research
So what can international and local communities do? Efforts can be made to pass legislation and policies to commit to mental health resources and research for children and families. We must recognize that children and adults face different challenges, and adjust available interventions accordingly. Children, adolescents, and teenagers need to have support in school, not just at home. Similarly, mental health issues need to be included in school health course curriculums. Families can support scientific studies through participation and encouraging their children’s schools to work with researchers. There are so many ways we can grow our research if we are able to team up with schools, create outreach, and increase the diversity of our volunteer cohort. Our hope is that families become advocates of our work.
Finally, the greatest challenge facing neurodevelopmental research is funding. Building a hypotheses of mental illness must be accompanied by a model of healthy development yet funding priorities are heavily skewed towards supporting research on disease entities. The non-profit and philanthropic communities can have a place in the advancement of science and supporting the growth of research. Strong development research like our own is strengthened by long-term study of the brain. We urge these communities to recognize the importance of continuity in science and involve themselves in identifying opportunities to influence research and science policy worldwide.
Alexander H. Denker, B.A. is a Research Fellow, National Institute of Mental Health Child Psychiatry Branch
Jay N Giedd, M.D. is the Chief of Brain Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health Child Psychiatry Branch
– See more at: http://creativevoces.com/2014/08/understanding-the-adolescent-brain/#sthash.GJVEWNZS.dpuf