Blog Posts

Spikeyness in the mental health profession ---

4/11/2025

Val's Take: I met Daniel Boorstin in the early 1980s in Washington D.C. when he was Librarian of Congress and I was a Ewing Fellow from the University of Oklahoma (Boorstin was born in Oklahoma).

I didn't know anything about him at that time --- but he is a mental association that I have had --- and I've learned more about him and his books. He actually had done some work on the history of the Legal Profession in the US.

I talked with Boorstin and his wife for some time around the pool about what I wanted to do -- be a lawyer -- the nature of time -- etc. ---- I think he concluded pretty quickly that I was not well suited for the current legal profession I would be walking into and advised I should be a philosopher.

I became a lawyer anyway --- and it has made me the philosopher I am today.

Back in the early 1980s --- "The Future Was So Bright I Had To Wear Shades" ----- I had no idea what awaited me. I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

It is sometimes said of Neuro-Diverse people that we are "Spiky" --- we have big strengths and big weaknesses. The same could be said of the Mental Health Profession.

CNN
Holmes Had A Psychiatrist Before the Attack (2012)

CountyOffice.org
What Is The Daubert Standard For Expert Testimony? (2025)

9 News
How a Colorado murderer bounced from 2 hospitals and a jail cell before the crime (2022)

"A day after a Boulder County judge released Brian Murray on a PR bond, he went to the Denver home of a man he knew, looking for money – and killed him.

"Stu Hoebel's wife found him beaten to death in his basement.

"It's a case study in how the US health care and criminal justice systems continue to have cracks wide enough for someone like Brian Murray to fall through."

Denver Post
Colorado murder victim’s husband sues hospital, says staff should have recognized suspect’s mental illness (2025)

Response to:The Neurodiversity Framework in Medicine: On the Spectrum (2025) --- Harvard & the Autonomous University of Mexico

4/11/2025

Val's Take/Conjecture

It is a HUGE PARADIGM SHIFT to recognize bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression as DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY ISSUES.
Modern Psychiatry and Psychology got a lot wrong and they're still getting a lot wrong -- but they were left to hold down the fort until new evidenced based understandings and treatments were available.

Hallelujah!!!!

Tailored support and interventions that accommodate individual needs.
Focusing on Neuro-Divergent Strengths and Perspectives
Innovative Treatments that increase Quality of Life and improve Functional Results
Including neurodivergent people in all sectors of society, including research, clinical practice, and policymaking
Including NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE as one of the disciplines that needs to be included for people with "Mental Illness."

The authors got the "DEVELOPMENTAL" aspect of these disorders.

It is hard to over-state how important that is.

The authors use some interesting phrasing:

This new viewpoint "undermines established notions of these conditions as disorders/diseases that may be healed or corrected."
On the other hand, they talk about the need for innovative treatments to improve quality of life.
And Neuro-Diverse folks need to be included in Research.

It is very hard to acknowledge and especially hard for Neuro-Diverse people to acknowledge that a large percentage of the Justice-Involved and Homeless populations are Neuro-Diverse.

When We're Talkin' Neuro-Diversity --- We're Talkin' Neuro-Diversity

If you have some DEI Initiative that doesn't seem to understand that there are "pathological" aspects to Neuro-Diversity ----- you're an easy target for Trump and others.

Finally, the idea that Neuro-Diversity is just about identity makes it harder for people who are struggling the most and the most ostracized by the society to get the help they need for complex Neuro-Developmental and Neuro-Immune Disorders.

Funding: Funding was provided by Harvard University's Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging as part of the Culture Lab Innovation Fund.

Affiliations

1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
2Faculty of Medicine, Autonomous University of Mexico State, Toluca de Lerdo, Mexico, Mexico.
3Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

ABSTRACT

The term “neurodiversity” refers to the natural heterogeneity in human neurological functioning, which includes neurodevelopmental differences and other mental health conditions (e.g., autism spectrum disorder [ASD], attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], dyslexia, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression).

This new viewpoint has significant consequences for the future of medicine, specifically in psychiatry, neurology, and neurodevelopmental medicine, as it undermines established notions of these conditions as disorders/diseases that may be healed or corrected.

The neurodiversity approach, on the other hand, acknowledges these divergences as natural variations, calling for tailored support and interventions that accommodate individual needs.

Neurodiversity could impact current medical perspectives by supporting a shift from pathology to identity.

Rather than focusing on the difficulties associated with a specific ailment, the neurodiversity approach stresses the strengths and distinct perspectives that come with neurodivergent identities.

This shift has significant consequences for research and therapy by fostering the development of innovative treatments aimed at increasing quality of life and improving functional results.

This new perspective advocates including neurodivergent people in all sectors of society, including research, clinical practice, and policymaking, by recognizing, accepting, and integrating natural variances in brain functioning.

In this article, we review the development of the neurodiversity movement and propose “The Neurodiversity Framework in Medicine,” which challenges traditional views by recognizing neurological differences as natural variations, advocating for inclusive, person-centered approaches in healthcare.

Everything Everywhere all at once, Connectedness and Justice

4/7/2025

Michelle Yoeh
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Halluci Nation
R.E.D.

Val's Take: This actually isn't a pitch for the "Multi-Verse" --- what I am trying to get to is a more ancient idea of Historical Cause and Effect and Trans-Generational Effects as well as Biological Systems that are involved in Multi-Directional Ways.

Also for some of us with Processing Disorders or Differences ---- It can feel like Everything Everywhere All At Once.

I ran across a Mount Sinai video from 3 years ago in which one of the researchers estimated that we would fully understand Mental Disorders in a few hundred years --- and he wasn't joking. This particular researcher was also for turning every patient into a research subject (with consent).

I don't necessarily share that view --- BUT Neuro-Developmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Neuro-Degenerative Disorders, and other forms of Chronic Disorder and Disease are COMPLICATED.

Many members of the public are for "treatment" --- but it can be more a Mixed Bag than we're generally willing to acknowledge.

Who Bears the Burden of Society's Ignorance

Burden of Proof

Trauma Index

Mental Health Must Change to be effective --- A big part of that is appreciating the large role of the immune system in mental and brain disorders

Environmental Toxins

BUT --- it is not just the Immune System.

The Microbiome and the Anna Karenina Priniciple

Endocrine System

And that's not all . . .

Stanford Neuro-Biology Professor Robert Sapolsky:

"You are never really going to understand what is going on if you get it into your head that you're going to be able to explain everything with this is--

the part of the brain
the childhood experience
the hormone
the gene
or the evolutionary mechanism

---That explains everything.

"It doesn't work that way. Instead any behavior is the result of biology that occurred a second ago, hours ago, days ago -- a million years ago."
. . . .

"O000h it's complicated. Well, that's very useful.

"How 'bout, 'OOOh it's complicated and you better be really careful and really cautious before you think you understand the causes of a behavior, especially if it's a behavior you judge harshly.' "

Getting out of the bottomless pit of out-dated understandings

4/1/2025

Chainsmokers
High

Val's Take: I love the Chainsmokers song and video "High" ---- it layers personal and political meanings.

We don't have a common understanding of Neuro-Developmental and Psychiatric Disorders between the Researchers and the Clinicians ---- so it's not surprising the policymakers and the public have an amorphous, bottom-less pit view of Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric Disorders.

On the other hand, we are in the process of getting a common understanding with the identification of BIOMARKERS and Paradigm Shifts to Developmental Multi-System Neuro-Immune Disorders.

That is making its way to Continuing Medical Education Programs and the Clinicians and hopefully to the public, policymakers and the Legal System.

addressing Multi-system Neuro-Immune-Developmental Disorders ----- is the mental health profession able to address this alonE?

3/17/2025

Val's Take/Conjecture

The Mental Health Profession is NOT able to address Multi-System Neuro-Immune-Developmental Disorders alone.
When we think about Paradigm Shifts throughout history such as the Copernican Revolution or Darwinian Revolution ---
- the new understandings themselves as hard won as they were ----
  - pale in comparison to what it actually took to modify existing understandings and systems.

Ideally, there are INCLUSIVE PROCESSES to incorporate NEW UNDERSTANDINGS and support is provided to workers who are impacted by these new understandings to make transitions as smooth as possible.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Incorporating:

Maternal Immune Activation that can turn on PRO-INFLAMMATORY Genes and dysregulate multiple systems of the body
So that the body will be less able to deal with stress during the lifetime

When people talk about being PSYCHIATRIC SURVIVORS, that's not all patients but it is some, what they are talking about in some instances is a Ham-Handed attempt to change DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES that the profession doesn't realize are DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES.

As nice as mental health professionals generally are, the failure to keep them up to date with science is NOT innocuous.

nradke
Good Explanation of Thomas Kuhn's "Paradigm Shift"

Immune dysregulation in Anti-Social Personality Disorder, Aggression and Substance use

2/16/2025

Val's Take

It would be great if the Colorado Mental Health Profession generally and those working in Forensics 
- would STEP UP and substantively address the historical problems of insufficient mental health knowledge in the CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM and the need to incorporate new understandings and remedy past mistakes of overloaded systems.

Transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of microglia in substance use disorders (2023)

Maternal immune activation and adolescent alcohol exposure increase alcohol drinking and disrupt cortical-striatal-hippocampal oscillations in adult offspring (2022)

Microglia in neuroimmunopharmacology and drug addiction (2024)

Aggression --- Humanity's Ultimate Double-Edged Sword

Hair Analysis, Psychological Analysis, the Criminal Law & the Ethical & Moral Imperative to Pull Back

Antisocial personality disorder: Failure to balance excitation/inhibition? (2025)

Article is meant among other things "to enhance societal awareness and reception of the neurobiological basis of antisocial behavior and ASPD [Anti-Social Personality Disorder]."

The neurobiology of antisocial personality disorder [APD] (2024)

Associations of the immune system in aggression traits and the role of microglia as mediators (2024)

Resveratrol prevents offspring's behavioral impairment associated with immunogenic stress during pregnancy (2025)

Academic Proposal that Anti-Social Personality Disorder is a Neuro-Developmental Disordeer

Justice & the Need for better outcomes in behavioral Health

2/8/2025

Val's Take

We need to get Clinicians and the Public more aware of critical research involving the Neuro-Developmental/Psychiatric Continuum of the last 10 years.
Developmental Issues occurring IN UTERO are not widely known --- even if they are widely discussed in the research.
Further, Dysregulation of the Brain's INNATE IMMUNE CELLS appear to have far-ranging effects across the lifespan.
We need to provide the SUPPORT necessary for Behavioral Health to be a competent profession.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

"No good deed goes unpunished" is a sardonic commentary on the frequency with which acts of kindness backfire on those who offer them.

In other words, those who help others are doomed to suffer as a result of their helpfulness.

No good deed goes unpunished, no bad one unrewarded. --- Walter Map, 12th Century

--- Wikipedia

"The Earth is not flat" -------------NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES / DISABILITIES, "MENTAL ILLNESS," WORK AROUNDS & CRITICAL THINKING

Research is Everybody's Business

Gary Clark, Jr.
Bright Lights

You're gonna know my name by the end of the night --- MICROGLIA

Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.

Behavioral Health Outcomes Lag Behind Most Major Diseases Despite Higher Costs (2025)

[Information provided by YOUU Health on EIN Presswire]

The Eggshell Skull Rule and Environmental Toxins

2/7/2025

What are the implications of the "Eggshell Skull Rule" and the "Exposome" for Neuro-Diverse people with Maternal Immune Activation?

Val's Take/Conjecture

Maternal Immune Activation does seem to create idiosyncratic vulnerabilities, including types of immuno-compromised systems.

There are man-made toxins and natural toxins.

PESTICIDES

Immuno-compromised people are more vulnerable to Pesticides than people who are not immuno-compromised.
- Pesticides are also associated with increased risk of Parkinson's.
- Environmental Exposure to Pesticides and the Risk of Child Neurodevelopmental Disorders (2024)

MICROPLASTICS

Impacts of microplastics on immunity (2022)

Environmental Toxins & Mental Health

Previously we've conceptualized Neuro-Developmental, Psychiatric and Neuro-Degenerative Disorders as having to do with the Brain and Neurons.

More and more we are conceptualizing these disorders as NEURO-IMMUNE DISORDERS, and there are more components than that.

BUT the Immune System is a critical system --- and we can't understand these disorders without understanding the Immune Component.

THE EXPOSOME ACROSS THE LIFESPAN & TRANS-GENERATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

"The exposome concept refers to the totality of exposures from a variety of external and internal sources including chemical agents, biological agents, or radiation, from conception onward, over a complete lifetime.
"It encompasses also 'psychosocial components' including the impact of social relations and socio-economic position on health."

EGGSHELL SKULL RULE

The eggshell skull rule, also known as the thin skull rule, is a common law doctrine that makes a defendant liable for the plaintiff's unforeseeable and uncommon reactions to the defendant's negligent or intentional tort .

If the defendant commits a tort against the plaintiff without a complete defense , the defendant becomes liable for any injury that is magnified by the plaintiff's peculiar characteristics.

It is essential to emphasize that the eggshell skull doctrine does not entitle the plaintiff to compensation for an unrelated pre-existing injury.

A common example of this doctrine is that a person's skull was very thin due to the person’s own health condition, if the person gets into an accident, the other person who caused the accident will be liable for the actual damages , although the average person would not suffer the same serious injuries in the same accident as the person with the thin skull.

Late prenatal immune activation in mice induces transgenerational effects via the maternal and paternal lineages (2023)

Having a come to jesus with the budget hawks &the problem of dangerous defendants with some form of cognitive disability

2/6/2025

Val's Take

One of the things that happens frequently in Colorado State Government is the creation of a bureaucracy, or office, or navigator system in lieu of MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE:
- Housing or
- Secure Placements
- Etc.

Of course if there are people being stabbed in Downtown Denver --- these administrative fixes are not much of a bargain.

A big complicating factor is that Jails are generally financed by the COUNTY and Mental Institutes are financed by the STATE.
Counties around the country and in Colorado want people with "mental illness" out of their jails because it is a LARGE COST they don't want.

The IMD Rule & Administrative Enforcement of Disability Civil Rights Laws

The Stepping Up Initiative to get people with mental illness out of the jails has been around for awhile --- and there are many stakeholders but most prominent are the COUNTIES.

Denver has tackled the issue of Housing to an almost miraculous degree.

BUT not everyone is going to be able to go to SUPPORTIVE HOUSING initially and maybe even --- EVER given current treatments.

The State seems aware of the need to build out the CONTINUUM OF CARE but doesn't know where it will get the money.

Getting more FEDERAL FUNDING could help.

CMS' Failure to Cover Housing for Long Term Care & the IMD Rule: What they have in common is Discrimination

Martin Luther King Day 2025: Historian John Hope Franklin & the Great man theory of History

2/6/2025

Val's Take

Historian John Hope Franklin rejected the 19th Century's idea of the Great Man Theory of History for appreciating the influence of Marginalized Social Groups on the trajectory of history.

Racism & Mental Health

Social Stress, Equitable Estoppel & the Criminal Justice System

structural racism, bad diagnostics and Anti-Social Personality Disorder

Historian John Hope Franklin interview with National Museums Liverpool

"I am a trained historian therefore I am slow to provocation. On the other hand, I am involved with slavery not only as an historian but personally."

<<Previous

Forward>>

Transitional/ Translational Justice Monday

Spikeyness in the mental health profession ---

Response to:The Neurodiversity Framework in Medicine: On the Spectrum (2025) --- Harvard & the Autonomous University of Mexico

Everything Everywhere all at once, Connectedness and Justice

Getting out of the bottomless pit of out-dated understandings

addressing Multi-system Neuro-Immune-Developmental Disorders ----- is the mental health profession able to address this alonE?

Immune dysregulation in Anti-Social Personality Disorder, Aggression and Substance use

Justice & the Need for better outcomes in behavioral Health

The Eggshell Skull Rule and Environmental Toxins

Having a come to jesus with the budget hawks &the problem of dangerous defendants with some form of cognitive disability

Martin Luther King Day 2025: Historian John Hope Franklin & the Great man theory of History

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