09-10-2005, 05:35 PM
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15948461&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=that-s-so-unfair--name_page.html Wrote:
9 September 2005
THAT'S SO UNFAIR
Teenagers suffer 'temporary autism' as they reach puberty
By Lorraine Fisher
CHILDREN turn into horrid Kevin the teenager because puberty makes them autistic for a while, experts said yesterday.
Previously sweet-natured 12 and 13-year-olds become like Harry Enfield's stroppy adolescent because their brains get rewired as they enter adulthood.
And in the scramble they lose the ability to understand the feelings of others - especially their parents.
Researchers found the children were particularly poor at recognising facial expressions of anger or sadness.
Expert Professor David Skuse said: "I believe that this might explain the Kevin phenomenon and the social ineptitude of adolescents."
Prof Skuse and his team, of University College, London, tested 1,600 kids aged six to 17 to see if they understood facial expressions.
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They were probing the theory that all men are partially autistic, dulling their emotions so they can focus on complex tasks.
They found no evidence of this but discovered that both boys and girls went through a dramatic change at puberty which caused their ability to read emotions to dip sharply.
Prof Skuse told the BA Festival of Science at Trinity College, Dublin: "You can imagine what it's like for parents trying to manage unruly adolescents. One wonders if they're understanding anything you're saying. It would appear this is a function of the development of their brains.
"The good news is that they recover by the age of 16 or 17."
It was also revealed yesterday that depressed kids are not getting proper help because experts don't know enough about how it affects them.
Between 14 and 25 per cent of young people get depressed at least once before they are adults. Writing in The Lancet, Dr Neal Ryan, of Pittsburg University, said lack of information was a "cause for great concern".
THAT'S SO UNFAIR
Teenagers suffer 'temporary autism' as they reach puberty
By Lorraine Fisher
CHILDREN turn into horrid Kevin the teenager because puberty makes them autistic for a while, experts said yesterday.
Previously sweet-natured 12 and 13-year-olds become like Harry Enfield's stroppy adolescent because their brains get rewired as they enter adulthood.
And in the scramble they lose the ability to understand the feelings of others - especially their parents.
Researchers found the children were particularly poor at recognising facial expressions of anger or sadness.
Expert Professor David Skuse said: "I believe that this might explain the Kevin phenomenon and the social ineptitude of adolescents."
Prof Skuse and his team, of University College, London, tested 1,600 kids aged six to 17 to see if they understood facial expressions.
Advertisement
Falk AdSolution
They were probing the theory that all men are partially autistic, dulling their emotions so they can focus on complex tasks.
They found no evidence of this but discovered that both boys and girls went through a dramatic change at puberty which caused their ability to read emotions to dip sharply.
Prof Skuse told the BA Festival of Science at Trinity College, Dublin: "You can imagine what it's like for parents trying to manage unruly adolescents. One wonders if they're understanding anything you're saying. It would appear this is a function of the development of their brains.
"The good news is that they recover by the age of 16 or 17."
It was also revealed yesterday that depressed kids are not getting proper help because experts don't know enough about how it affects them.
Between 14 and 25 per cent of young people get depressed at least once before they are adults. Writing in The Lancet, Dr Neal Ryan, of Pittsburg University, said lack of information was a "cause for great concern".
