Here we provide an overview of our current understanding of normal GM development in the human brain, and how the knowledge can be applied to understand the GM changes in some of the major neuropsychiatric illnesses across the life span. We discuss representative examples of pediatric onset schizophrenia and bipolar illness, and we relate some of the early maturational changes in childhood to changes that happen in the opposite sequence later in life, in Alzheimer's disease. We also stress the importance of longitudinal brain imaging for understanding psychiatric illnesses from a neurodevelopmental perspective.
