Many of those who frequently interact with adolescents have resigned themselves to the fact that the period between childhood and adulthood is inevitably characterized by risky and unhealthy behavior and also a time when previously healthy children will experience the first signs of mental
disorder. Likewise, the popular media often present the adolescent brain as a work in progress, unprepared for the developmental changes that drive unhealthy behavior, and vulnerable to the genetic influences that seem to undermine mental health. But in the last decade, scientists have come to
grasp the plasticity of the adolescent brain. Although important findings from both animal and human research show the effects of early maltreatment on brain development and how these effects can be transmitted across generations, new advances in our understanding also promise strategies for
reversing these and other genetic predispositions. Research now suggests that mental health professionals and concerned parents may be able to take advantage of adolescent brain plasticity by fortifying strengths, avoiding maladaptive behaviors, and counteracting genes that would otherwise promote
mental disorder. At one time considered mutually exclusive, according to the argument diligently supported by Daniel Romer and Elaine Walker, nature and nurture actually work in concert, shaping the development of the mature individual. The implications for our views of the treatability of mental
disorder could be dramatic. A central question which this volume addresses is: With treatment and preventive interventions, can we enhance healthy functioning, prevent potential maladaptivebehavior, and alter the developmental course of psychological disorders? In June 2005, a diverse group of
psychologists, neuroscientists, and researchers came together at University of Pennsylvanias Annenberg Public Policy Center to discuss this question theoretically and practically from a variety of perspectives. The presentations from this fruitful meeting have been synthesized into Adolescent
Psychopathohlogy and the Developing Brain: Integrating Brain and Prevention Science, a collection that offers prevention and neuroscience researchers the knowledge and background to embark on the study of developmental psychopathology, and the rationale to chart a new course.
Many of those who frequently interact with adolescents have resigned themselves to the fact that the period between childhood and adulthood is inevitably characterized by risky and unhealthy behavior and also a time when previously healthy children will experience the first signs of mental
disorder. Likewise, the popular media often present the adolescent brain as a work in progress, unprepared for the developmental changes that drive unhealthy behavior, and vulnerable to the genetic influences that seem to undermine mental health. But in the last decade, scientists have come to
grasp the plasticity of the adolescent brain. Although important findings from both animal and human research show the effects of early maltreatment on brain development and how these effects can be transmitted across generations, new advances in our understanding also promise strategies for
reversing these and other genetic predispositions. Research now suggests that mental health professionals and concerned parents may be able to take advantage of adolescent brain plasticity by fortifying strengths, avoiding maladaptive behaviors, and counteracting genes that would otherwise promote
mental disorder. At one time considered mutually exclusive, according to the argument diligently supported by Daniel Romer and Elaine Walker, nature and nurture actually work in concert, shaping the development of the mature individual. The implications for our views of the treatability of mental
disorder could be dramatic. A central question which this volume addresses is: With treatment and preventive interventions, can we enhance healthy functioning, prevent potential maladaptivebehavior, and alter the developmental course of psychological disorders? In June 2005, a diverse group of
psychologists, neuroscientists, and researchers came together at University of Pennsylvanias Annenberg Public Policy Center to discuss this question theoretically and practically from a variety of perspectives. The presentations from this fruitful meeting have been synthesized into Adolescent
Psychopathohlogy and the Developing Brain: Integrating Brain and Prevention Science, a collection that offers prevention and neuroscience researchers the knowledge and background to embark on the study of developmental psychopathology, and the rationale to chart a new course.
SECTION 1: Biological and social universals in development:
1: Linda Spear: The Developing Brain and Adolescent-typical
Behavior Patterns: An Evolutionary Approach
2: Ann Masten: Competence, Resilience and Development in
Adolescence: Clues for Prevention Science
SECTION 2: Characteristics of brain and behavior in
development:
3: Elizabeth R. Sowell, Paul M. Thompson, and Arthur W. Toga:
Mapping Adolescent Brain Maturation Using Structural Magnetic
Resonance Imaging
4: Don Tucker and Lyda Moller: The Metamorphosis: Individuation of
the Adolescent Brain
5: Scott Hemby and Joann OConnor: Transcriptional Regulation in
Schizophrenia
SECTION 3: Effects of early maltreatment and stress on brain
development:
6: Megan Gunnar: Stress Effects on the Developing Brain
7: Michael Meaney: Maternal Programming of Defensive Responses
through Sustained Effects on Gene Expression
8: Karen Bales and C. Sue Carter: Neuropeptides and the Development
of Social Behaviors: Implications for Adolescent
Psychopathology
9: Charles A. Nelson, Charles H. Zeanah and Nathan A. Fox: Effects
of Early Deprivation on Brain-Behavioral Development: The Bucharest
Early Intervention Project
SECTION 4: Effects of stress and other environmental influences
during adolescence:
10: Erin McClure and Daniel Pine: Social Stress, Affect, and Neural
Function in Adolescence
11: Anthony Grace: Stress-induced Pathophysiology within the
Schizophrenia Patient Brain: A Model for the Delayed Onset of
Psychosis and its Circumvention by Anxiolytic Agents
12: Elaine Walker, Amanda McMillan, and Vigay Mittal:
Neurohormones, Neurodevelopment and the Prodrome of Psychosis in
Adolescence
13: Lauren Alloy and Lyn Abramson: The Adolescent Surge in
Depression and Emergence of Gender Differences: A Biocognitive
Vulnerability Stress Model in Developmental Context
SECTION 5: Reversible disorders of brain development:
14: Kiki Chang, Kim Gallelli, and Meghan Howe: Early Identification
and Prevention of Early-Onset Bipolar Disorder
15: Nicole S. Cooper, Adriana Feder, Steven M. Southwick, and
Dennis S. Charney: Resilience and Vulnerability to Trauma:
Psychobiological Mechanisms
16: Martha Farah, Kimberly G. Noble and Hallam Hurt: The Developing
Adolescent Brain in Socioeconomic Context
17: Charles B. OBrien: Brain Development as a Vulnerability Factor
in the Etiology of Substance Abuse and Addiction
SECTION 6: Educational interventions for enhanced neurocognitive
development:
18: M. Rosario Rueda, Mary K. Rothbart, Lisa Saccomanno, and
Michael I. Posner: Modifying Brain Networks Underlying Self
Regulation
19: Patricia Gorman Barry and Marilyn Welsh: The BrainWise
Curriculum: Neurocognitive Development Intervention Program
20: Mark T. Greenberg, Nathaniel R. Riggs, and Clancy Blair: The
Role of Preventive Interventions in Enhancing Neurocognitive
Functioning and Promoting Competence in Adolescence
Appendix A: Glossary (forthcoming): Shivali Dhruv:
Appendix B: Brain Locations: Eian More:
"Romer and Walker have done an excellent job of pulling together
several themes which capture the miltidisciplinary nature of the
relationship between adolescent psychopathology and brain
development...The book is suitable for use in an advanced
undergraduate or graduate class, but is also meaty enough for
consumption by professional researchers...If one does read the
chapters in the order presented, there is a fair amount of shifting
back and forth between
those that highlight neuroscience findings and those with a more
psychosocial point of view...this is an organizational stroke of
genius...a text whose appearance is long overdue."--Journal of
Youth
Adolescence
"Romer and Walker have done an excellent job of pulling together
several themes which capture the miltidisciplinary nature of the
relationship between adolescent psychopathology and brain
development...The book is suitable for use in an advanced
undergraduate or graduate class, but is also meaty enough for
consumption by professional researchers...If one does read the
chapters in the order presented, there is a fair amount of shifting
back and forth between
those that highlight neuroscience findings and those with a more
psychosocial point of view...this is an organizational stroke of
genius...a text whose appearance is long overdue."--Journal of
Youth
Adolescence
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