The British Journal of Psychiatry· 2013Q1· Review
Adult mental health disorders and their age at onset
- 716citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2013year
Short summary
Half of all adult mental health disorders begin by the teenage years, suggesting a critical window for intervention.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Adult mental health disorders often begin in adolescence.
- Roughly 50% of adult mental health disorders have their onset by the teenage years.
- Studying age at onset is key to understanding causes and prevention.
- Early onset has implications for mental health service delivery.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
The study of age at onset of mental health disorders is technically and conceptually difficult. It is important to consider these age distributions in order to understand causes and mechanisms of illness and to intervene at an appropriate juncture for primary and secondary prevention. This article reviews some of the approaches to studying age at onset, sets out the evidence to support the assertion that adult mental disorders begin in adolescence, and finds that perhaps half of all adult mental health disorders have begun by the teenage years. The paper then discusses whether this fits what is known about the developmental neurobiology of the brain and introduces the implications for mental health services.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2013 · DOI ↗
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Field: Biological Psychiatry
Biological PsychiatryNeuroscience