The stigma of mental illnesses has been a constant struggle for teenagers with any kind of mental disorder. The average age of onset of mental health disorders is 14 years; anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, depression and eating disorder. Psychosis and substance abuse almost all emerge during adolescence (Paus 6). The way society perceives these mental illnesses has improved because of neuroscience, as it has provided scientific evidence that they aren’t “faking” it. With the improvement of neuroscience, scientists are now able to understand the behavior behind mental illnesses. This has lead to new insights of youth behavior and has opened new avenues for understanding the brain. To better understand the onset of mental illness during
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One example of increased growth is the volume of cortical gray matter, which seems to peak after at the onset of puberty, after which it gradually declines (Paus 1). The slope of the decline, usually varying from relatively gentle to steep and in some cases, displaying a nonlinear relationship with age. Interestingly, the age-related increase is steeper in males than females (Paus 1). Whilst the cortical gray matter seems to peak at puberty, the volumes of the white cortical matter show a linear increase throughout adolescence. A new study of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been used to assess white matter changes in detail in the human brain in adolescence (Paus 3). The amygdala has been an area of recent study that neurologists say is an important factor for anxiety disorders since the amygdala is the emotion receptor (Casey 20). A study performed by Dr. Casey, in which 60 children, adolescents, and adults were examined during a series of tests, showed that adolescents have an initial exaggerated amygdala response to cues that signal possible threat relative to children and adults. Other studies have suggested that the initial emotional reactivity as recorded by elevated amygdala activity may be typical of or normal for adolescents, but the failure of this response to subside over time may be indicative of anxiety (Casey 20). Structural MRI studies of adolescents with anxiety disorders have shown structural anomalies in the superior temporal gyrus, the ventral prefrontal cortex and the amygdala (Paus
One example of increased growth is the volume of cortical gray matter, which seems to peak after at the onset of puberty, after which it gradually declines (Paus 1). The slope of the decline, usually varying from relatively gentle to steep and in some cases, displaying a nonlinear relationship with age. Interestingly, the age-related increase is steeper in males than females (Paus 1). Whilst the cortical gray matter seems to peak at puberty, the volumes of the white cortical matter show a linear increase throughout adolescence. A new study of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been used to assess white matter changes in detail in the human brain in adolescence (Paus 3). The amygdala has been an area of recent study that neurologists say is an important factor for anxiety disorders since the amygdala is the emotion receptor (Casey 20). A study performed by Dr. Casey, in which 60 children, adolescents, and adults were examined during a series of tests, showed that adolescents have an initial exaggerated amygdala response to cues that signal possible threat relative to children and adults. Other studies have suggested that the initial emotional reactivity as recorded by elevated amygdala activity may be typical of or normal for adolescents, but the failure of this response to subside over time may be indicative of anxiety (Casey 20). Structural MRI studies of adolescents with anxiety disorders have shown structural anomalies in the superior temporal gyrus, the ventral prefrontal cortex and the amygdala (Paus