background Research on the developing brain in children and adolescents is delivering new insights into the underlying mechanisms of childhood psychiatric disorders.
aim To provide important information about the role that departments of Dutch child and adolescent psychiatry are playing in this international field that is expanding rapidly.
method This article provides an overview of recent, mainly Dutch neuro-imaging studies on the developing brain.
results A large number of studies from Dutch research centers have greatly increased our knowledge about normal and abnormal brain development in relation to the development of psychiatric disorders.
conclusion Neuro-developmental research can help us to understand the underlying mechanisms of developing psychiatric disorders. This is likely to lead to new preventive measures and to more effective treat-ment in the future. Policy-makers should therefore commit a larger proportion of their neuroscience research budgets to neurodevelopmental studies in children.