Points to Remember

Mental Illness Is a Brain Disorder

• "Multimodal" techniques using EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging are providing a comprehensive picture of the structural, functional, and temporal connectivity in the brain.

• Medications, cognitive-behavior therapy and other interventions appear to affect different parts of brain circuitry involved in mental disorders.

Mental Disorders Are Developmental Disorders

• Onset of mental illness is almost entirely before the age of 25.

• Emerging evidence shows that ADHD is a developmental disorder characterized by delay of cortical maturation.

Mental Disorders Result From Complex Genetic Risk Plus Experiential Factors

• Genetics of mental illness are characterized by very rare but potent variations.

• These rare variations result in changes in brain circuitry that, in complex interaction with environmental influences, result in many pathways to phenotypes of mental illness.