Many psychiatric disorders (both child and adult) have long been hypothesized to reflect subtle abnormalities in brain development. Anatomic brain developmental studies have revived and extended our understanding of normal and abnormal developmental patterns as well as plastic response to illness. It is beyond the scope of this review to discuss any disorder in great depth, but an overview of a series of studies for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), very early (childhood) onset schizophrenia (COS), and autism illustrate some key principles.
