In a recent Birmingham Perspective article, Dr Stephanie Burnett Heyes discusses the need for a better understanding of the relationship between adolescent brain development and mental health risk. She notes that though this, we must provide adolescents with a solid framework of support, within which they can explore, grow and flourish.
Understanding adolescence
Adolescence, the period of life between childhood and adulthood, is defined by the transition from parental dependence to relative autonomy. During this time, important changes take place in the structure and workings of the brain, and in the mental abilities which underlie some of the most sophisticated human behaviours. Read the full Birmingham Perspective article
Dr Stephanie Burnett Heyes is a Lecturer and British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Psychology. Her research looks at adolescent social cognition and its neural correlates, and mental imagery in adolescent psychopathology.