Topic

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment

What brain science can and cannot yet say about depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, ADHD, addiction, PTSD and OCD.

10 articles

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment Intermediate Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Far more than tidiness: intrusive obsessions, compulsions that relieve anxiety but feed the cycle, the cortico-striatal-thalamic loop, and treatment with exposure and response prevention, SSRIs and brain stimulation. September 30, 2026 · 3 min read

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment Beginner The Brain and Mental Illness What neuroscience can and can't yet say about mental disorders: the biopsychosocial model, why there's no brain scan for depression, DSM and ICD, the RDoC framework, and how genes and environment interact. August 29, 2026 · 3 min read

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment Beginner ADHD Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: the three presentations, what brain research shows about attention and reward, why it often continues into adulthood, common myths, and how stimulant medication and other treatments help. July 22, 2026 · 2 min read

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment Beginner Autism A neurodevelopmental difference in social communication, sensory experience and patterns of interest: history from Kanner and Asperger, prevalence, genetics, the debunked vaccine myth, brain research and neurodiversity. June 5, 2026 · 3 min read

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment Beginner Depression One of the world's leading causes of disability: symptoms, what's happening in the brain (beyond 'low serotonin'), stress and inflammation, and treatments from talking therapy and medication to ketamine and brain stimulation. April 14, 2026 · 3 min read

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment Beginner Anxiety Disorders The world's most common mental disorders: generalised anxiety, panic, phobias and social anxiety; what over-active threat circuits look like; and why exposure-based therapy works so well. April 1, 2026 · 3 min read

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment Intermediate PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder: from 'shell shock' to modern diagnosis, intrusive memories and hypervigilance, fear circuits that fail to switch off, and trauma-focused therapies that work. March 30, 2026 · 2 min read

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment Intermediate Bipolar Disorder Episodes of mania and depression: types of bipolar disorder, what's known about its biology, the story of lithium, and the role of sleep and body clocks. March 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment Intermediate Schizophrenia Hallucinations, delusions, negative and cognitive symptoms; the dopamine and glutamate hypotheses, genetic and developmental risk, early intervention, and the first new class of antipsychotic in decades. February 14, 2026 · 3 min read

Mental Health & Neurodevelopment Intermediate Addiction How drugs and behaviours hijack reward, learning and self-control circuits; tolerance and withdrawal; the brain-disease model and its critics; Rat Park; and effective treatments for opioid, alcohol and nicotine addiction. November 12, 2025 · 3 min read

About this project

NeuroScience Decoded is an independent, plain-language encyclopedia of the brain and nervous system. It covers what neuroscience is, five thousand years of its history and the people who made it, how neurons and synapses work, brain chemistry and anatomy, development, the senses, movement, memory, emotion, sleep and consciousness, neurological and mental health conditions, the tools scientists use, the overlap with artificial intelligence, treatments, and the ethics and future of the field.

Every entry is written to be understood by a curious reader with no science background. Each one is tagged Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced, opens with an In plain English summary, offers everyday analogies and try-it-yourself examples, ends with key takeaways, and links to the concepts worth reading first.