How Much Do We Know About the Child and Adolescent Brain?

We actually have a lot of understanding and that understanding also helps us get a better clarification as to why certain diseases come on at different times. So for instance we do know that if you don't learn a foreign language, or learn to start playing golf or tennis or ice skate before the age of 13, you're not going to speak it as naturally and you're not going to participate in that sport as professionally as someone who's going golf to the Olympics.

And the reason for that is that we know there's very specific brain changes that occur right at the time of adolescence, and right before adolescence and during the time of adolescence and that's also the time when you see first onset of depression. We also know that the brain changes again at 24 and the reason that 75% of all serious psychiatric illness occurs before the age of 24 but as at 18 or 19 is when schizophrenia comes on and bipolar disorder is usually at around 19.

So those kinds of facts now that we're getting the neurological or neuroscience or neuro-imaging clarification only confirms what we knew before, but it then makes it very clear to us that for instance, between 14-24 it's a pretty dangerous time for kids, they die of accidents, in homicide, and suicide, and at 25 the suicide rate doctorps. So it's not by chance that hurts unless you've had the car at 25, it's not that there are no scientists there it's just that they start to realize that you've become a safer doctorver and that's because your prenatal cortex that's a part of your brain gets activated. You start to recognize cause and effect if I wear seat-belt and I have an accident I have to wear the seat belt every time every time it's going to protect me from a lot of physical damage, and if I keep to the speed limit I'm not going to get a ticket and I'm less likely to get an accident.