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What Is "MINORITY STRESS" ---???

12/9/2023

Val's Take/Conjecture

I would say there is MORE going on here than we may realize.
Specifically, I think there are some POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOPS that when we're under STRESS -----
- We're becoming "MORE SENSITIVE"
- We're RAMPING UP that SENSORY PROCESSING ---
  - Ostensibly --- so we can REASON and get out of the STRESSFUL SITUATION.

When you're in a COMPLEX SOCIETY and you're being MARGINALIZED ---
- It is a long, hard road to get out of that --- that may SPAN GENERATIONS.
- At that point --- we are into MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION.

LGBTQ+ are often Neuro-Diverse ---

Not everyone who is Neuro-Diverse is LGBTQ+
BUT the percentages of Non-Heterosexual People are HIGHER in Neuro-Diverse Populations ---

The Link Between Neurodiversity and the LGBTQIA+ Community

I will just say this as a Heterosexual Neuro-Diverse woman --- the smartest women at my college were lamenting the fact that many (not all) of the smart men were gay.

So there was a lot of competition for those heterosexual smart men.

Neuro-Diversity, Gender & Sexuality

Understanding The Weight Of Minority Stress

"Minority stress is a type of stress felt by members of minority groups that involves emotionally taxing situations and experiences specific to one’s race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and/or gender."

ETC.

Rock-n-Roll Baby --- Making Autism Cool

12/5/2023

Grateful Dead --- "Touch of Grey"

I think the Modern Music Scene is "ADAPTED" for people with Autism ---

gives people something to do with their hands
there's plenty of "ROCKING" which is a physical release and could be thought of as a form of "stimming"
repetitive sounds and vocals -- can be done in COMPLICATED PATTERNS
"ACCOMMODATES" --- Circadian Rhythms that might be a little different .
Musical Artists and Artists in general are often very concerned about being "HONEST" ---
- I think that is being driven a lot by INTENSE EMOTION and sometimes the MAJORITY ---
  - does not want to hear it.
  - so I think Neuro-Diverse people often turn it into a "VIRTUE" or "ART" or at least try.

I think there is a lot behind the statistic below right (73% of independent music makers experience symptoms of mental illness) ---

one of the things (not necessarily the only thing) is that Neuro-Diverse people are having a hard time fitting into the dominant economy.

See"Go With the Flow."

There's a big need to "CO-CREATE OPPORTUNITIES" for the people we actually have.

Composing to Avoid Cacophony --- Composing to Avoid Cacophony

Why Do Autistic People Rock Back and Forth?

Image Credit the Conversation

Music and Autism | Spectrum Disorder

Music therapy has been shown to improve symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), such as anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity.

In addition, music therapy has also been found to increase attention span, reduce aggression, and improve language development.

On the other hand . . .

The Music Industry is Having a Mental Health Crisis

"More than 73 percent of independent music makers experience symptoms of mental illness.

"And this statistic was released before the pandemic. In 2019, Swedish digital distribution platform . . ."

Neuro-Diverse Professionals --- BIG STRENGTHS and BIG CHALLENGES

10/10/2023

Conjecture

I remember a judge in Oklahoma County who was extremely smart and he was verbally abusive to pretty much all the attorneys and anybody else who appeared before him ---

So there was a certain EQUAL OPPORTUNITY aspect to this.

AND HE GOT AWAY WITH IT --- because he was in a position of AUTHORITY.

I don't think it was clear to anybody what his problem was --- and I don't think it was clear to him either.

I think that would be a little harder to get away with in Colorado because of surveys involving the Judiciary --- but not impossible.

There were also at least a couple of Oklahoma judges who routinely obliquely shared their own problems with alcohol to DUI Defendants.

I don't think that kind of "SHARING" is a magic bullet --- BUT I do think it's PART of creating a MORE HONEST and GROUNDED SOCIAL REALITY.

The Epidemic of "Misdiagnosis" of Mental Health Problems in the Gifted Community

Adulting with Exceptionalities in the Criminal Justice System

Anti-Social Personality Disorder as a Developmental Disorder

What we need from the Medical Profession is MORE HONESTY about the LIMITS OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE and TREATMENTS.

We need something MORE SOPHISTICATED than tagging many if not most people in the Criminal Justice System with "ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER."

If we don't have something "MORE SOPHISTICATED" we need to be honest about that as well as the REASONABLE DOUBTS that are being created by CURRENT RESEARCH.

Maternal Immune Activation and Pre-Mature Aging

8/7/2023

Conjecture

So as Neuro-Diverse Folks --- we were often BORN with
- Developmental Systemic Inflammation, and
- Sometimes Subtle Dysregulations of:
  - the Central Nervous System
  - the Immune System
  - the Endocrine System
  - the Metabolism and
  - the Microbiome
Further, these DYSREGULATIONS along with having a "HYPER-CONNECTED BRAIN" are NOT ALL BAD ---

BUT

there are some pretty WICKED TRADE-OFFS:

More susectibility to Stroke
More Susceptibility to Cancer
A "Continuum" of Neuro-Developmental and Psychiatric Disorders, and
"Excitable" neurons that are involved with a greater pace of AGING.

This is requiring "INTEGRATIVE THINKING" to solve WICKED PROBLEMS.

Rotman Program of Integrative Thinking at the University of Toronto
How to Solve Wicked Problems Using Integrative Thinking

The ISOLATION of "SENSING," "PERCEIVING," "KNOWING" MORE* than Most of the People Around You

5/22/2023

And having Intense Emotions and Executive Functioning Challenges

*MORE --- Not Everything

Conjecture

The approach to the right is a very different approach than --- "Let me help you to change or get better coping mechanisms" ----

for an ENVIRONMENT that may be BLISSFULLY IGNORANT that it is DESTROYING YOU.

On the other hand, we're often ignorant of how our Intense Emotions and Executive Functioning Challenges affect OTHERS ---

even as we're very aware of how the CHALLENGES OF OTHERS AFFECT US.

Ultimately, this isn't about Neuro-Typical vs. Neuro-Diverse ---

As the psychologist recognizes in the video above --- Most people are OUTLIERS in some respect.

Further, the Standards of Danger to Self, Others or Gravely Disabled are probably pretty good ----

our ability to keep people out of those danger zones has not been that great.
more UNDERSTANDING regarding managing INTENSE EMOTIONS and EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING could HELP.

[As an Aside:

On a Macro Level it's not letting people with PARKINSON'S engage in INTERNATIONAL ACTS OF AGGRESSION.]

The Counselling Channel (UK)
What is Neurodiversity?

Paraphrasing at 11:48 :

The Temptation of the Therapist if THEY WEREN'T ALIVE TO THIS could be to say there is nothing wrong with you.

Obviously, there is a problem with saying there is something wrong with someone and I'm not saying there is something wrong --

What I'm saying is you have significant differences from other people that can make life more difficult than it is for most people.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Public Health, Time & Executive Functioning

5/9/2023

Conjecture

Challenges in TIME MANAGEMENT and other Executive Functioning Issues for People with an IQ over 70 are often not perceived as "REASONABLE."

Further, those TIME MANAGMENT ISSUES are often related to GREATER NOT LESS SENSORY and EMOTIONAL PROCESSING.

There are absolutely GIFTS that come with these Differences --- but some of it can be quite difficult to manage and we need better STRATEGIES & TREATMENTS.

Additionally, a lot of the HELPERS have their own LIMITS --- and our DYSFUNCTIONAL SYSTEMS have a habit of exposing those LIMITS.

I'm highlighting this British Medical Journal Cover for its Observation that we need a NEW DEAL on Disease Definition.

Our current categories are breaking down and nowhere is that more evident than in the outdated DSM 5.

We are needing to integrate Physical, Neuro-Developmental & Mental Health --- just so we can understand what is going on.

'I can't cope with multiple inputs': a qualitative study of the lived experience of 'brain fog' after COVID-19 (2022)

Affiliations

1 Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
2 Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
3 Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Associations between executive function impairment and biochemical abnormalities in depressed adolescents with non-suicidal self-injury. (2022)

Affiliations

1 Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China.
2 Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China; The Department of Child and Adolescent Psychology Xiamen Xianyue hospital, Fujian 361012, China.
3 Medical Imaging Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China.
4 School of Management, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510316, China.
5 Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
6 Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China.

Conclusions: Depressed adolescents with NSSI may have executive dysfunction and NAA and Cho metabolism abnormalities in the thalamus. And the NAA/Cr ratios of the right LN could distinguish NSSI from depressed adolescents. Further, the executive dysfunction may be associated with the abnormal NAA metabolism in the left thalamus and ACC.

Executive Functions, Time Organization and Quality of Life among Adults with Learning Disabilities

Affiliation

The Laboratory of Complex Human Activity and Participation, Department of Occupational Therapy, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel.

Conclusions: Deficits in initiation and emotional executive functions as well as organization in time abilities and emotional responses to impairments in organizing time affect the QoL of adults with LD and thus should be considered in further research as well as in clinical applications.

20/20
Carly Fleischmann

Most people are NOT experiencing exactly what Carly Fleischmann is --- BUT many of us are getting various levels of sensory and emotional input that are difficult to manage.

Understood
ADHD & Dyslexia --- Working Smarter Not Harder

Click to set custom HTML

ADHD, Conduct Disorder and Anti-Social Personality Disorder ---- What Might Be Going On?

5/7/2023

Does ADHD Cause Antisocial Personality Disorder?

Can You Have ADHD and ASPD?

Studies suggest that as many as 90% of adults with ADHD have other mental health disorders.

ASPD [Anti-Social Personality Disorder] is one of the most common mental disorders that happens with ADHD.

One study showed that men with ADHD were more likely to have antisocial personality disorder than women with ADHD.

Other common mental conditions you can have with ADHD are:

Anxiety disorders
Mood disorders
Substance use disorders
Behavior disorders
Learning disabilities
Language disorders

[These Disorders are BLURRED --- Colorado Researchers are finding that as well as researchers around the world. See Shared Genes & Psychiatric Disorders.]

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

I think in many cases the BOTTOM LINE is that some Neuro-Diverse person has limits that are NOT FALLING WITHIN Neuro-Typical Ranges ---

and we've decided that is NOT REASONABLE ---
and we won't take "NO" for an answer.

AND we're often making a DIFFICULT SITUATION --- MUCH WORSE.

For many Neuro-Diverse people --- we may have been on BOTH SIDES OF THIS --- and be painfully aware both of how we wished we were treated and how we wished we would have treated others.

Conjecture

The "BLINDERS" of US vs. Them Thinking.

The time it takes to bring things into "CONSCIOUS AWARENESS" to reach a "CRITICAL MASS"

"HIERARCHY" has really "MANAGED" a lot of disordered human behavior ---

That is becoming less and less true.

One way of looking at this is to say ---

We need more fair systems --- we need to PUNISH MORE PEOPLE.

I am definitely not saying anyone, including the Society at large, should IGNORE --- human behavior that is:

a danger to others
a danger to self or
gravely disabled

BUT we really have to UNDERSTAND that BEHAVIOR on a much DEEPER and CELLULAR LEVEL than we have.

If all you have is "Conduct Disorder" or "Anti-Social Personality Disorder" ---

Maybe you do go with that --
BUT at some point it's becoming painfully obvious MORE IS GOING ON

Many of the people we're most concerned about --- are very open to "TREATMENT":

We just need to know more about what we're doing ---
And ethically address those situations -- where we don't have the best answers.
- Further, if we don't have great treatments don't expect people to want sucky treatments.

To me this is very much about MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION and HYPER-CONNECTED BRAINS:

that often have SOME STRENGTHS, but
come with weaknesses in TRADITIONAL EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING.

When we think about "NEURO-PLASTICITY" --- we often think of it as something that somehow hasn't already been going on.

I think that is a CRITICAL MISTAKE.

Not that NEURO-PLASTICITY can't maybe help in some cases ---

BUT for many people with NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES --- it's more about DISCOVERING what NEURO-PLASTICITY has already done.
- AND Work within those Limits.

It's fine to try and extend those LIMITS ---

But at least some people are already MAXXED OUT using TRADITIONAL MEANS.
If we're going to EXTEND THOSE LIMITS IN EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING:
- We're going to need PRECISION MEDICINE, and
- In the meantime, we need a lot more PUBLIC EDUCATION about ACCOMMODATIONS & WORK AROUNDS for EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING CHALLENGES

Neuro-Diversity --- Super powers, Disability, both or a matter of perspective

5/5/2023

“ADHD Superpowers:”

Toxic Positivity vs. Celebration of Strengths (2023)

When we refer to ADHD superpowers, are we dismantling ADHD myths or perpetuating toxic positivity? Could it be both? . . . ADDitude readers reflect on their ADHD traits and how they view them.

Autism from the Inside
Am I Disabled?

The Counselling Channel (UK)
What is Neurodiversity?

Belief, Sensory Processing and Overload

4/20/2023

Conjecture

Fuentes says --- Hey --- why are we so complicated --- it's not that --- we had to be --- THAT'S NOT THE WAY EVOLUTION WORKS.
Well --- Yes and No.

On the one hand --- we're taking in an enormous amount of information ---
- On the other hand, we don't have an INFINITE CAPACITY TO TAKE IN INFORMATION
- and WE DON'T HAVE AN INFINITE CAPACITY TO PROCESS IT.

I think one of the things that makes Human Beings very anxious is having a NARRATIVE that doesn't hang together ---
- Especially, if it is about themselves.

Many of the great theologians and philosophers associated with various religious and spiritual traditions said ---- HEY, THIS IS BEYOND HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.

I don't think most issues are PERMANENTLY BEYOND HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.
- But there are some very real TIME AND PRACTICAL CHALLENGES
- and Neuro-Diverse People are often on the FRONTLINES OF THOSE PRACTICAL CHALLENGES.

Big Think
Agustin Fuentes
Why Sex, Food & Shelter Aren't Enough for Homo Sapiens

For some NEURO-DIVERSE PEOPLE in our societies --- we are pushing maturity not just to 25 but to 30 and maybe beyond.

For many Neuro-Diverse People our societies are SO ADMINISTRATIVELY COMPLEX

They are having a hard time FUNCTIONING.
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING CHALLENGES for People with Giant Brains ---
- Is not what we were EXPECTING.

Executive FunctionING, Neuro-Diversity and the NeeDS to Both Learn & TEACH

4/1/2023

This can be very hard for Neuro-Diverse People --- because we often don't understand our differences and neither does anybody else.

That is starting to CHANGE.

Understanding Our Own "Unreasonable" Limits & That of Others

& NOT Ignoring Them

Executive Functioning is pretty boring in a lot of ways and I think that is why we are just now getting to it.

BUT . . . It has a BIG IMPACT.

Short Term Memory
Organization
Planning
Emotional Regulation
etc.

If YOU don't know and the people around you, including professionals, don't know or don't understand that YOU have EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DIFFERENCES
- And you are unknowingly MASKING in a Neuro-Typical World
  - You could be headed for BURNOUTS or EVEN BREAK-DOWNS

For a lot of people PSYCHIATRIC LABELS can be a BIG IRRITANT --- and I don't think they are accurate ---
- I think that is a big reason why we are MISSING SO MANY PEOPLE ---
  - UNTIL THE CRISIS.

On the other hand, a lot of LATE DIAGNOSIS Neuro-Diverse people are quite GRATEFUL for that "DIAGNOSIS" ---

Even if we may have gone through HELL to get it.
I would knowingly and personally say that a DANGEROUS PSYCHOTIC EPISODE is HELL.

How we get out of this is GETTING TO THE UNDERLYING BIOLOGY and moving beyond VAGUE and OFTEN MISLEADING SYMPTOM CLUSTERS.

Strength-Based Approach

Employment Index

AAAS = American Academy of Arts & Sciences

The integrated stress response:
From mechanism to disease (2020)

Affiliations

1 Department of Neuroscience, Memory and Brain Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
2 Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

Abstract

Protein quality control is essential for the proper function of cells and the organisms that they make up.

The resulting loss of proteostasis, the processes by which the health of the cell's proteins is monitored and maintained at homeostasis, is associated with a wide range of age-related human diseases.

Here, we highlight how the integrated stress response (ISR), a central signaling network that responds to proteostasis defects by tuning protein synthesis rates, impedes the formation of long-term memory.

In addition, we address how dysregulated ISR [Integrated Stress Response] signaling contributes to the pathogenesis of complex diseases, including cognitive disorders, neurodegeneration, cancer, diabetes, and metabolic disorders.

The development of tools through which the ISR can be modulated promises to uncover new avenues to diminish pathologies resulting from it for clinical benefit.

I think the confusing thing about STRESS and Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric Disorders:

the Stress is often going to one or more aspects of Executive Functioning ---
NOT TO SUBSTANTIVE KNOWLEDGE which may be quite high
- I think the Sensory Processing Load is sometimes to often driving both:
  - EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING CHALLENGES, and
  - HIGH SUBSTANTIVE KNOWLEDGE in one or more areas

[See also Why Orchid?]

So I think people need to work at WHATEVER LEVEL THEY ARE AT for THEIR OWN MENTAL HEALTH --- and that level may be quite high.

The ACCOMMODATIONS or WORK-AROUNDS often need to go to one or more aspects of EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING.

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NEURODiversity Wednesday

What Is "MINORITY STRESS" ---???

Rock-n-Roll Baby --- Making Autism Cool

Neuro-Diverse Professionals --- BIG STRENGTHS and BIG CHALLENGES

Maternal Immune Activation and Pre-Mature Aging

The ISOLATION of "SENSING," "PERCEIVING," "KNOWING" MORE* than Most of the People Around You

Public Health, Time & Executive Functioning

ADHD, Conduct Disorder and Anti-Social Personality Disorder ---- What Might Be Going On?

Neuro-Diversity --- Super powers, Disability, both or a matter of perspective

Belief, Sensory Processing and Overload

Executive FunctionING, Neuro-Diversity and the NeeDS to Both Learn & TEACH

Neuro-Diversity
Wednesday

(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)

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​ NEURODiversity Wednesday

Neuro-DiversityWednesday(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)

Archives

Categories

NEURODiversity Wednesday

Neuro-Diversity
Wednesday

(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)