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Keeping Up with the Research --- the REALITY SHOW We Shouldn't Miss

1/25/2022

Keeping Up With the Kardasians

Keeping Up with the Research is no easy task & our current systems aren't doing it.

The Future of Psychiatry and Neurodevelopmental Disorders:

A Paradigm Shift (2019)

The current understanding of these disorders, intellectual disability, ADHD, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, tics, etc., is a neurodevelopmental disorder with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder also being neurodevelopmental, and all have significant neurobiological inputs.

Some personality disorders should also be considered as being on the neurodevelopmental spectrum.

The neurodevelopmental trajectory will include the addition of more neurodevelopmental disorders, e.g., bipolar, schizophrenia and depression as the person gets older

Part of more ACCOUNTABILITY for the Public Mental Health System is going to be the somewhat UNCOMFORTABLE recognition of the high CO-MORBIDITY between NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS & PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS.

What does that mean for SERVICE DESIGN?

Does it help explain why the Mental Health Centers have been such a DISASTER?

Further, while genes are important --- Maternal Immune Activation may be more illuminating.

Additionally, SOCIAL BEHAVIOR as a delicate balance between INNATE and ADAPTIVE IMMUNITY --
Might help explain the "OVERCITABILITIES" in giftedness and the mental and physical health problems associated with the Hyper Brain, Hyper Body.

Additionally, the UNCONSCIOUS BIAS that seems to be rampant in our descriptions and surface understandings of Gifted Overexcitabilities, Sensitivity and Reactivity...

WHO is exhibiting the behavior and where they are in the SOCIAL HIERARCHY is a part of how the society is REACTING to the behavior.

And that is DE-STABILIZING things even further.

People at the BOTTOM of the SOCIAL HEAP are suffering more
Low social status 'can damage immune system' --- BBC News

Big Think --- Jordan Peterson --- Inequality & Hierarchy Give Life Its Purpose

Further, those "shared genes" across psychiatric disorders are often going to the immune system and epigenetics.

Perhaps most challenging, these NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS and PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS are represented throughout the population.

The DIAGNOSTICS and TREATMENTS are in need of improvement for everyone ---
The truth is NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES are not all bad, but if you and everyone around you DON'T HAVE A CLUE -- it can get a lot more than BAD.

The lost girls: ‘Chaotic and curious, women with ADHD all have missed red flags that haunt us’

After multiple burnouts, in my early 30s I finally knew why life sometimes felt harder for me. It made perfect sense, so why had no one noticed before? (2020)

I'm not sure ADHD and other NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS are so obvious especially given assumptions regarding developmental disabilities and intelligence ---- and the fact that many people are quite BLURRED versions of the DSM 5 diagnostic categories.

That is one of the BIG INSIGHTS of the 21st Century

REFORM of MENTAL HEALTH has to include SUPPORT to TRANSLATE these new understandings and paradigms into IMPROVEMENTS in:

Diagnostics
Treatments, and
Systems

A BIG PART of this is CONSCIOUSLY addressing SENSITIVITY & REACTIVITY and the IMMUNE MEDIATED SENSORY PROCESSING OVERLOAD that is often behind it.

A link between sensory neurons activation and the immune system (2020)

Migraine as a Sensory Processing Disorder and an Inherited tendency to lose control of inputs.

Medical News Today:
What to know about ADHD and sensory overload (Sept. 2021)

What I and the author of the Guardian article know ---
Mental Health is FAR OFF TRACK -- and some of us have paid a big price for that.

Huntington's, Standing Out & the biological basis of behavior

1/18/2022

Tale regarding Dr. Vince Gilmer convicted of murder and ultimately found to have Huntington's. [Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde]

Huntington's is relatively rare in the Criminal Justice System BUT it is there.

Folk Singer Woody Guthrie had Huntington's and found himself in the Criminal Justice System although on much less serious charges. He was diagnosed with Huntington's in 1952.

A few years ago in Colorado, there was a man who was in one of the County Jails who not only had Huntington's but was Deaf ---- and pretty much everyone knew this man did not belong in the County Jail --- BUT the System didn't have a place for him.

One of the ways that the System knew --- He shouldn't be in Jail --- he was DIFFERENT ENOUGH to STAND OUT.

For a lot of people who have NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS such as ADHD --- that's a DIME a DOZEN in the Criminal Justice System --- :

So often we don't appreciate its significance, OR
We're AFRAID to appreciate its significance
- We see the Neuro-Developmental Disorder ADHD as related to Conduct Disorder and Anti-Social Personality Disorder
- BUT we can't bring ourselves to acknowledge the BIOLOGICAL BASIS of ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER.

Further, our Mental Health Professionals are TOO PRO SOCIALLY COMPETENT or more to the point NOT PEOPLE WITH THE RIGHT SKILLS to QUESTION --- underlying assumptions.

At one point, I did think --- HOW CAN THESE PEOPLE MISS THIS --- the BIOLOGICAL BASIS of BEHAVIOR --- they're Doctors and Ph.Ds --- come on . . .
But missing it they are and generally it's Good Faith miss.

The story in the This American Life episode highlights the "process" we're using to address these issues ----

We've got to find the SPECIFIC DIAGNOSIS in time for this SPECIFIC PERSON
In the meantime, we're PUNISHING this SPECIFIC PERSON as well as others.
It's a RACE WITH THE CLOCK & the CALENDAR.

Could we cut through all that if we could recognize the BIOLOGICAL BASIS of BEHAVIOR --- yeah, we could.

Most of these horrific cases could be avoided if we could accept the BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF BEHAVIOR.

If that is a given --- and to some people including myself it seems REASONABLE to assume that until proven otherwise ---
Then we're not getting HUNG UP in the CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM on the SPECIFICS of that BIOLOGY at the initial determination of whether the person did the acts charged.

"I've been havin' some hard travelin' ---
I thought you knowed."

I think the "Free Will vs. Determinism" debate gets us so OFF TRACK --- BUT I keep posting this video because at 1:45 Sapolsky says this:

"When you look at the number of things that we recognize now as biological --- organic -- where 500 years ago or 5 years ago we would have had a harsh moral judgment about it.

"Instead we now know oh that's a biological phenomenon.

"When we look at that, either we can say that the last 500 years of realizing all of this biology is going to stop right here and there's never going to be a new piece of knowledge in that area ----
"Yeah, there's areas of behavior we still can't explain biologically..

"But if all you can do is see the logical direction of where we're going with that is what we're going to get to the point of recognizing yeah, we're biological organisms. . ."

Where the "Free vs. Determinism Debate" gets OFF TRACK --- it is running in the WRONG DIRECTION.

So we tend to LOOK TO THE PAST --- and say "Hey, there are all these BIOLOGICAL FACTORS and ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS affecting BIOLOGY ---
- Therefore, there is NO FREE WILL.

At the same time (roughly), we're SLOWLY:
- Learning to control our Environments
- Learning to control our Biologies
- Learning to peel away UNCONSCIOUS thought processes
- Using CRITICAL THINKING to understand more COMPLICATED and INTEGRATED REALITIES.

What is becoming APPARENT is --- WE ARE NOT AS FAR ALONG AS WE THOUGHT WE WERE.

We're handing DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENT to EXPERTS within the PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM.

Where DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENT are more appropriate and FAR FROM PERFECT.
BUT it doesn't have to be PERFECT if we understand the BIOLOGICAL BASIS of BEHAVIOR (this is for the purposes of moving away from PUNISHMENT)--
- If we don't understand the BIOLOGICAL BASIS of BEHAVIOR --- our reasoning is laborious and convoluted --- AND most importantly --- some DISFAVORED PERSON is paying the price of our IGNORANCE.
- Is this person also going to PAY A PRICE if we don't have the right "DIAGNOSIS" or "TREATMENT" --- Yes, BUT we are MITIGATING the often HORRIFIC EFFECTS of a PUNITIVE SYSTEM that is often not SUFFICIENTLY HUMANE or SUFFICIENTLY PROVIDING FOR SAFETY.
  - Additionally, it is important to emphasize that this is MITIGATION and it doesn't replace the need for better DIAGNOSTICS and TREATMENTS.

Further, we're MONITORING Treatment and Placements to ensure that they remain APPROPRIATE --- but this is more a PROCESS than an EVENT.

Finally, we're able to handle the INTEGRATIVE COMPLEXITY of INTENT that is BIOLOGICALLY DRIVEN.

The COURAGE & KNOWLEDGE to ADDRESS BIG SHORTAGES

1/14/2022

Understanding Psychiatric Disorders as Disorders of the Neuro-Developmental Continuum does seem like a BIG STEP UP.

Understanding that much of what we're trying to address are challenges in Executive Functioning, including Emotional Regulation --- but not limited to Emotional Regulation seems like a BIG STEP UP.

Understanding that NEURO-DIVERSE INDIVIDUALS are bringing STRENGTHS to the table not just EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING CHALLENGES seems like a BIG STEP UP.

Understanding that NEURO-DIVERSE People tend to be CLUSTERED at the TOPS and BOTTOMS of SOCIETIES makes this COMPLICATED.

THAT KNEE ON YOUR NECK PROBABLY BELONGS TO SOME OTHER NEURO-DIVERSE PERSON.

One of the things that I've found in this JOURNEY is that ONE FUZZY IDEA is connected to ANOTHER FUZZY IDEA in our SOCIETY. So:

Criminal Intent
Anti-Social Personality Disorder
Unconscious Bias
Societal Hierarchies
NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL "DISORDERS" and their relationship to PSYCHIATRIC "DISORDERS"
Trauma
Intergenerational Trauma
The Biological Basis of Behavior and its CONNECTION to Environment
Pro Social Competency Religion that it appears the Mental Health Profession has used to fill in quite a few gaps as PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATIONS were not the ANSWER to EVERYTHING.
STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES can be MORE ASYNCHRONOUS than we've recognized,
- So someone like myself --- I need support in areas of organization that some people might be surprised about --- people who know me wouldn't be surprised at all.
- On the other hand --- my abstract thinking skills are high and I do know a lot just as result of that NEURO-DIVERSITY --- of course --- it's NOT perfect.

Jacob Bronowski's Ascent of Man (1973)

Knowledge or Certainty

ORCHID'S 2022
CO COGNITIVE
DISABILITY 2-PAGER

BOTTOM LINE: Colorado and other States need to get on with it and adopt REASONABLE PLANS with MEASURABLE GOALS to address BIG SHORTAGES.

‘I am my brother’s keeper’, Philonise Floyd tells UN rights body, in impassioned plea for racial justice

As much as I love Science, it is holding this society HOSTAGE in LAW and PUBLIC POLICY --- as it has set itself up as the ONLY WAY of KNOWING.

Ironically, SCIENCE has been able to do this because of RELIGON's CLAIM to INFALLIBILIBITY --- it's not hard to prove that wrong, BUT
EMPIRICAL SCIENCE has a hard time keeping up with the MORAL CUNUNDRUMS complex societies are facing.

If we want to call it MORAL REASONING that's fine --- it is greatly informed by various religious and philosophical traditions --- and if we were using it ----

We probably wouldn't be the MOST INCARCERATED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

HOTEL VOUCHERS ---and the Need for WRAP-AROUND SERVICES & SUPPORT

1/11/2022

A Cautionary Tale from Vermont and a Solution in Canada

Will Vermont hotels accept state vouchers for homeless?

Vancouver Intensive Supervision Unit --- Finding the Person within the Illness

At 1:40 : "What's innovative about VISU is our more grassroots approach to working with the community.

"We offer a guarantee to our community partners that if they work with our clients, if they take them into their buildings to house them, if there ever is a problem . . . they can call us and we will be immediately responsive."

The Vancouver Intensive Supervision Unit is connected with the Court System there --- when we're talking about people who are Homeless something like 24/7 Housing Support Unit would be more appropriate.

Nov. 19, 2021

RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) - Hundreds of homeless people are now eligible for 100 days of shelter in Vermont hotels under the state’s newly expanded emergency housing program, but can they get a room?

Under pressure from advocates -- and extended help from FEMA -- the state announced last week it would open the doors of its emergency hotel program but the state says there are at least six times more people in need of help than before the pandemic and at least some of the hotels that opened their doors last year aren’t willing to do so now.

Video on social media shows the condition of the Holiday Inn in Rutland as the hotel was cleaning up from its participation in the state’s homeless hotel program.

Staff at the hotel say rooms sustained serious damage during the months the hotels were taking state vouchers that paid for homeless people to live there.

Renovations are also underway at the Quality Inn in Rutland. The owner of both hotels said they will not be accepting vouchers at this time and are still working on a plan by next month.

Transitional/ Translational Justice Monday

Keeping Up with the Research --- the REALITY SHOW We Shouldn't Miss

Huntington's, Standing Out & the biological basis of behavior

The COURAGE & KNOWLEDGE to ADDRESS BIG SHORTAGES

HOTEL VOUCHERS ---and the Need for WRAP-AROUND SERVICES & SUPPORT

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