The last decades have been very important in the study and understanding of the nervous system. This progress has not only included the approach to phenomena underlying the brain mass of a neurochemical, neurophysiological, neuroanatomical, cytoarchitectonic, imaging, etc. nature, but also the relationship of this knowledge with complex aspects of behavior and psyche.

For some years now, there have been sufficiently detailed explanatory models of the phenomena of information processing in the brain and the result of alterations in neurotransmitter systems in the genesis of delusional ideas, experiences of derealization and depersonalization, hallucinations, illusions, affection disorders and anxiety disorders.

However, these models also allow us to understand the consequences of structural alterations and the psychopathological genesis of other manifestations, such as in the case of dementia, in which the structural lesion of the prefrontal cortex usually generates an alteration of the problem-solving function. of this brain area. The structural alteration can initiate or present alterations, beyond those typical of dementia, such as delusional ideas or hallucinations. agnosias, there is usually a lesion of the perceptual component of the system, and in amnesias, of the mnesic component of the system.

The cerebral lobes are involved in sensory, cognitive and motor functions Lesions in these areas can cause alterations in the functions they regulate, for example, the frontal lobe is involved in planning, prediction, judgment and complex movements; the temporal, in learning, memory and hearing; the parietals, in body image, spatial and tactile perception; the occipital, in vision. Regarding the hemispheres, the left is especially involved in linguistics, numerical and analytical thinking; and the right, in complex spatial skills, the perception of patterns and aspects of artistic and musical performance.

The maturity of the frontal lobes allows you to control your impulses. Impulses that can range from spending all the money saved on this video game, talking all afternoon on Messenger, even if I have a very important exam tomorrow, or aggressive impulses, such as punching a classmate who insults me. In an adult, the emotional brain establishes a connection with the frontal lobes, which decide that it is necessary to stop that impulse, because it is in a public place and can and should be controlled.

A teenager, on the other hand, can listen to the first emotional impulse, get carried away by the amygdalar wave and anger, and start a fight, given that in cases of strong impacts, the teenager does not respond with equal activation in the frontal lobe, because connections are not established equally. All this, together with the revolution of sexual hormones that influence serotonin and neurotransmitters in the brain, which regulate temperament and excitability, makes adolescence a time of maximum risks.

Their ventral tegmentum, basic for motivation and obtaining reward, does not fully develop, does not respond like that of adults, and this explains the adolescent's need to obtain the reward here and now, to stimulate oneself and accept risks to Get what you want, without any waiting. This also explains why adolescents are more vulnerable to addictions, drinking alcohol, taking drugs and practicing unprotected sex, since these activities require little effort to obtain an apparently greater and immediate reward. And in this delicate stage of biological maturation, some mental illnesses may also appear in which establishing an early diagnosis and effective treatment is essential to achieve a better evolution and prognosis. Many mental disorders considered to be adults (schizophrenia, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and substance abuse, among others) have a sudden or insidious onset in youth, often with clinical presentations that are different from those of adults.