The Added Value of Crosstalk Between Developmental Circuit Neuroscience and Clinical Practice to Inform the Treatment of Adolescent Anxiety

Abstract

Significant advances have been made in recent years regarding the developmental trajectories of brain circuits and networks, revealing links between brain structure and function. Emerging evidence highlights the importance of developmental trajectories in determining early psychiatric outcomes. However, efforts to encourage crosstalk between basic developmental neuroscience and clinical practice are limited. Here, we focus on the potential advantage of considering features of neural circuit development when optimizing treatments for adolescent patient populations. Drawing on characteristics of adolescent neurodevelopment, we highlight two examples, safety cues and incentives, that leverage insights from neural circuit development and may have great promise for augmenting existing behavioral treatments for anxiety disorders during adolescence. This commentary seeks to serve as a framework to maximize the translational potential of basic research in developmental populations for strengthening psychiatric treatments. In turn, input from clinical practice including the identification of age-specific clinically relevant phenotypes will continue to guide future basic research in the same neural circuits to better reflect clinical practices. Encouraging reciprocal communication to bridge the gap between basic developmental neuroscience research and clinical implementation is an important step toward advancing both research and practice in this domain.

Keywords

• Adolescence
• Anxiety
• Circuit neuroscience
• Precision medicine
• Reward
• Safety