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Deeper understanding of the wiring and rewiring of the adolescent brain is helping scientists pinpoint why young people are especially vulnerable to mental health problems – and why some are resilient.

Funding cuts and austerity measures are damaging young people’s access to mental health services, with potentially long-term consequences for their mental wellbeing, say researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Prime Minister Theresa May recently announced measures to improve mental health support at every stage of a person’s life, with an emphasis on early intervention for children and young people. Writing in ̽��ֱ��Conversation, Professor Ian Goodyer from the Department of Psychiatry looks at the options for helping teenagers.

Young people with mental health problems who have contact with mental health services are significantly less likely to suffer from clinical depression later in their adolescence than those with equivalent difficulties who do not receive treatment, according to new research from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. This comes as Prime Minister Theresa May announced measures to improve mental health support at every stage of a person’s life, with an emphasis on early intervention for children and young people.

More than two-thirds of adolescents who suffer from depression could see long-term benefits from receiving one of three psychological treatments – of which only one is currently recommended on the NHS – according to research published today in ̽��ֱ��Lancet Psychiatry.

̽��ֱ��brains of teenagers with serious antisocial behaviour problems differ significantly in structure to those of their peers, providing the clearest evidence to date that their behaviour stems from changes in brain development in early life, according to new research led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the ̽��ֱ�� of Southampton, in collaboration with the ̽��ֱ�� of Rome “Tor Vergata” in Italy.

̽��ֱ��importance of friendships and family support in helping prevent depression among teenagers has been highlighted in research from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��study, published in the open access journal PLOS ONE, also found that teenagers who had grown up in a difficult family environment were more likely than their peers to be bullied at school.

Each extra hour per day spent watching TV, using the internet or playing computer games during Year 10 is associated with poorer grades at GCSE at age 16, according to research from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Test could be used as an inexpensive screening tool to facilitate early intervention.

Brain scans of teenage boys with severe antisocial behaviour have revealed differences in the structure of the developing brain.