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Reasoning, Emotion, Sensory Processing & Homeostasis

7/20/2022

Famed Neuro-Scientist and Author Antonio Damasio

Conjecture

Ramped Up Sensory Processing is going to CHALLENGE SHORT TERM or WORKING MEMORY.
It's probably going to look like "SLOW PROCESSING."
I can't remember EVERYTHING.
Using PRINCIPLES of LOGIC can help MAKE SENSE of all this SENSORY INFORMATION.

EMOTION

Emotion can be PROBLEMATIC, but I would maintain NOT FOR THE REASONS WE THINK.
EMOTION is NOT the OPPOSITE of REASON -- we're NOT REASONING in the ABSENCE of EMOTION.

I have been known to say, "This is my major premise, this is minor premise, this is my conclusion ---- WHAT THE HELL ISN'T LOGICAL ABOUT THAT?"
I would say the goal is not just to hurl SYLLOGISMS and be a SMART ASS -- it is COMMUNICATION.
But if we're SHUTTING DOWN other people's COMMUNICATION on the PRETENSE that it's NOT LOGICAL --- when really we don't have the BANDWIDTH to deal with the EMOTION.
- That's going to cause a lot of problems in RELATIONSHIPS --
- It's going to cause a lot of problems in SOCIETY.

EMOTION isn't the OPPOSITE of REASON --- BUT WE HAVE OUR LIMITS

We don't have the BANDWIDTH to deal with INTENSE EMOTIONS, EMOTIONAL DYSREGULATION 24/7 as individuals, in relationships, families, or societies.
When I say we don't have the "BANDWIDTH" -- I mean BIOLOGICALLY EMOTION/STRESS are OVERLOADING the SYSTEMS of the BODY.
AND we are BREAKING OURSELVES AGAINST THOSE LIMITS.
That EMOTIONAL/STRESS OVERLOAD is often the RESULT of that very same SENSORY OVERLOAD that is FUELING REASONING.

ANOTHER RELATED CATCH-22

If we're SHUTTING DOWN other people's CONCERNS --- whether we think they are "TOO EMOTIONAL" or something else --
I think we may be INVITING some problematic EPIGENETIC CHANGES that will RAMP UP EVEN FURTHER --- SENSORY PROCESSING.

HOMEOSTASIS & SENSORY PROCESSING

The problem is --- BALANCE DOESN'T LOOK THE SAME for EVERYONE --- and RAMPED UP SENSORY PROCESSING creates BALANCE CHALLENGES.
I don't think it is any accident that Neuro-Diverse people seem to be more subject to BURNOUT.
Further, given the association of Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders with PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS -- I would say Neuro-Diverse people seem to be more subject to BREAKDOWN.

Alice Merton
No Roots

We're NOT ASPENS --- BUT we are SOCIAL ANIMALS and we are Biologically Plugged into the SOCIAL ORDER --- through among other things the IMMUNE SYSTEM.

A LOT of People are questioning HIERARCHY right now --- just as we're realizing there are not a HANDFUL of FACTORS that identify us as INDIVIDUALS ---- THERE ARE TRILLIONS --- and they are NOT ALL HUMAN.

People are FIGHTING about who is at the BOTTOM of the HIERARCHY because --- it has TANGIBLE IMPACTS to People's Health & Well Being.

Pharrell Williams Freedom
We are from heat
The Electric one
Does it shock you to see, he left us the sun?
The atoms in the air
Organisms in the sea
The Sun, and yes, man
Are made of the same things

REAL HUMAN LIMITATIONS & the NEED for DIFFERENT PARADIGMS

The FLIP SIDE of Pharrell Williams "Freedom" is that we currently are much more limited than we realize --- taking in only a FRACTION OF REALITY.

We are REASONING ANIMALS but it comes at a BIG ENERGY COST

We don't have the BANDWIDTH to just RAMP UP that SENSORY PROCESSING even relatively MODEST AMOUNTS without SUFFERING SOME CONSEQUENCES.

Earlier Ages --- certainly some prominent Theologians and Philosophers understood that the WORLD / the UNIVERSE / the ULTIMATE REALITY were BEYOND HUMAN COMPREHENSION.

[Interestingly, Spiritual Beliefs in "ONENESS" seem to help people do better.

See Neuroscience News: "Spirituality Linked to Better Health Outcomes" (July 2022) and People With a Sense of Oneness Experience Greater Life Satisfaction (April 2019).]

Our COMPREHENSION has increased greatly over the eons and certainly rapidly increasing over the last 50,000 years.

Further, things really picked up with the ENLIGHTENMENT. BUT the ENLIGHTENMENT/Empirical Science --- has NOT TURNED ON ALL THE LIGHTS -- maybe it ultimately will.

In the meantime, issues of SUSTAINABILITY are plaguing our PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS and our BODILY ENVIRONMENTS.

The Need for a Public Education Campaign on Neuro-diverse burnout

6/21/2022

Neurodiversity, empathy, anxiety, and burnout – a roller coaster of intertwined emotions?

FIGHTING & PREVENTING NEURODIVERSE BURNOUT

PANELISTS–

DR. MARSHA D. BROWN (Forensic & Clinical Psychologist / Host of Self-Care Chronicles Podcast / drmarshabrown.com)
SEAN INDERBITZEN (Autism Self-Advocate / Licensed Clinical Social Worker / Therapist / seaninderbitzen.com)
BROOKE SCHNITTMAN (ADHD & Executive Functioning Coach / Co-Host of ADHD Power Tools /coachingwithbrooke.com)
KATIE OSWALD (Autism Self-Advocate/ Founder of Full Spectrum Agency For Autistic Adults / fullspectrumasd.org)

MODERATOR–

ALI IDRISS (ADHD Self-Advocate / Writer / Co-Host of ADHD Power Tools)
SARAI WELCH (Different Brains Intern Board Representative / Writer)

Tourette's is Part of Neuro-Diversity

6/19/2022

Maternal autoimmunity and inflammation are associated with

childhood tics and obsessive-compulsive disorder: Transcriptomic data show common enriched innate immune pathways...
https://www.sciencedirect.com › science › article › pii

by HF Jones · 2021 · Cited by 14 -- Upregulated differentially expressed genes in maternal autoimmune disease and Tourette brain transcriptomes were commonly enriched in innate

Altered topology of structural brain networks in patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (2017)

Contrasting these results, whole brain and right hemispheric networks of GTS patients showed significantly increased normalized global efficiency indicating an overall increase of structural integration among distributed areas.

Higher global efficiency was associated with tic severity (R = 0.63, p = 0.022) suggesting the clinical relevance of altered network topology.

Our findings reflect an imbalance between structural integration and segregation in right hemispheric structural connectome of patients with GTS.

These changes might be related to an underlying pathology of impaired neuronal development, but could also indicate potential adaptive plasticity.

Netflix: Billie Eilish opens up about Tourette's with David Letterman

Neuro-Diversity and a Ramped Up Stress Response

6/19/2022

At one time that ELEVATED STRESS RESPONSE may have been your secret weapon until it turned against you.

Further, I think we need to start considering:

Heart Disease
Autoimmune Disease
Cancer
Neuro-Developmental Differences involving Maternal Immune Activation,
Psychiatric Disorders and
Substance Issues

AS INTER-RELATED --- maybe different manifestations of the LONG TERM EFFECTS of DEVELOPMENTAL and AFTER-ACQUIRED INFLAMMATION.

See Frontiers in Psychology --- A Translational Perspective of Maternal Immune Activation by SARS-CoV-2 on the Potential Prenatal Origin of Neurodevelopmental Disorders: The Role of the Cholinergic Anti-inflammatory Pathway (2021)

To me, what we haven't come to terms with is:

people are coming with DEVELOPMENTAL SYSTEMIC INFLAMMATION
- this is on one level more problematic than simple LIFESTYLE CHANGES,
- on the other hand, it may require LIFESTYLE CHANGES that are FAR BEYOND our current conceptualizations.

Neurodiversity Is a Competitive Advantage - Harvard Business ...
https://hbr.org › 2017/05 › neurodiversity-as-a-competi...

“Neurodiversity is the idea that neurological differences like autism and ADHD are ... Managing neurodiverse employees' stress presents another challenge.

Editorial: Stress and Immunity (2019)

Long-term and chronic stress leads to persistently high cortisol and corticosteroid levels, which cause resistance to cortisol and impaired anti-inflammatory effects on the immune system.

Such effects result in chronic infection, chronic inflammatory autoimmune diseases, or cancers as well as other physiological disorders.

Chronic stress also inhibits the cross talk of immune cells and signaling networks.

Stress and Drug Abuse: A Structural and Genetic Link
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com › view › stress-and-dr...

Oct 31, 2019 — Specific genetic changes are linked both to stress responses and an ability to abstain from addictive substances. A multi-center research study ..

Psych Scene Hub: The Impact of Maternal Stress on the Fetal Brain-- Key Mechanisms (updated 2020)

Inflammation, Anxiety, and Stress in Attention-Deficit ... - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles › PMC8533349

Stress and Inflammation in Patients with ADHD · by LF Saccaro · 2021 · Cited by 5 — Strengthening the hypothesis that HPA axis impairment may be related to ADHD symptoms . . .

Study links heightened stress reaction to autism-related GI ...

“We know that it's common for individuals with autism to have a more-intense reaction to stress, and some of these patients seem to experience frequent constipation, abdominal pain or other gastrointestinal issues,” says the study's senior author, David Beversdorf, a neurologist with the University of Missouri's ...Jan 10, 2017

Dyslexia as an adaptation to cortico-limbic stress system ...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles › PMC7231974

by JR Kershner · 2020 · Cited by 7 — The important upshot of this is that reading ability has a lower threshold for stress-induced environmental compromise than general intelligence. Hence dyslexia ...
‎Abstract · ‎Introduction · ‎Stress levels, behavior, and... · ‎Epigenetics, the stress axis...

RCCX Theory and Giftedness: A Promising New Line of Research

According to Dr. Meglathery, those with the CAPS profile are
at higher risk of chronic illness, especially when an individual
has inherited two copies of CYP21A2 mutations, one from
each parent.

The crux of the CAPS profile is a brain wired for survival--the ability to move fast, the ability to get into flow, the ability to really push oneself, all of which are what we in the gifted community view as overexcitabilities.

Dr. Meglathery’s description of a brain with CAPS echoes familiar refrains from the gifted literature: “[The CAPS brain] is characterized by an exaggerated stress response, sensory
sensitivities, hyper-focus, strong special interests, often mental gifts paired with learning disabilities/Asperger’s, an androgenized brain.”

-----page 8-9.

Giftedness & Parkinson's

6/8/2022

High IQ in Early Adulthood Is Associated with Parkinson's Disease

July 2020
Journal of Parkinson's Disease

Scientists link immune cells to Parkinson's disease onset. Summary: A new study adds increasing evidence that Parkinson's disease is partly an autoimmune disease.

In fact, the researchers report that signs of autoimmunity can appear in Parkinson's disease patients years before their official diagnosis. Apr 20, 2020

Autoimmunity plays a role in Parkinson's disease, study suggests

High intelligence: A risk factor for psychological and ...https://www.sciencedirect.com › science › article › pii

by RI Karpinski · 2018 · Cited by 147 — Further, increased evidence of allergies, autoimmune disease, sensory sensitivity and high IQ has been found in a subset of individuals with ADHD

High rates of parkinsonism in adults with autism
https://jneurodevdisorders.biomedcentral.com › articles

by S Starkstein · 2015 · Cited by 78 — The finding of high rates of Parkinson's disease in older adults with autism is likely to be only one of many potential new findings to be ...

Parkinson's disease and Dyslexia - eHealthMe
https://www.ehealthme.com › parkinson-s-disease › dys...

Dyslexia is found among people with Parkinson's disease, especially for people who are male, old. The study analyzes which people have Dyslexia with Parkinson's ...

To mask or not to mask

5/19/2022

Conjecture

So a few things when it comes to the BLURRED CATEGORIES of ADHD and AUTISM ---- and I would say also DYSLEXIA, OCD and GIFTEDNESS and others as well:
- More INTENSE EMOTIONS which are related to ---
- RAMPED UP SENSORY PROCESSING this is related to ---
- The PERCEPTION & PRACTICAL REALITY of Slower Processing Speed
- There is a lot of MISSED or LATE DIAGNOSIS

So I think Paige is right --- many people are MASKING and they don't even know it
- AND because many are NOT NEATLY PATTERN MAPPING to DSM 5 Categories and MORE FUNDAMENTAL CATEGORIES are IN THE PROCESS of BEING RECOGNIZED and DISCOVERED (i.e. BIOMARKERS)---
  - Some of us have really been through it.
  - And what we've been through does qualify as "SOCIETAL ABUSE."
    - as UNWITTING as it is.
    - Further, some people have been through a lot more than others.

I would submit that MOST of the people who are HOMELESS or INCARCERATED are NEURO-DIVERSE -- and

They are in a SOCIETY that doesn't think it should have to ACCOMMODATE Executive Functioning Differences --
AND by and large wouldn't know how to ACCOMMODATE those DIFFERENCES even if they wanted to.

On the one hand, I do think not CRAMMING NEURO-DIVERSE people into Neuro-Typical Work Environments is part of the answer.

Supported Entrepreneurship
We, of course, already have Supported Entrepreneurship ---
- it's a few Neuro-Diverse people at the TOP
- often EXPLOITING Neuro-Typicals so those Neuro-Diverse great ideas actually have a chance of succeeding.

This really is Different Minds need to learn to play nice and work together without BURNING each other out or EXPLOITING each other.

Paige Layle
WHAT IS MASKING? | Autism & How Masking Makes Me Feel

Asperger's from the Inside
The WORST ADVICE you can give an Autistic person [Just Take Off the Mask] #TakeTheMaskOff

How to ADHD
The Problem with Masking ADHD and Autism (burnout, etc.)

Neuro-Diverse People tend NOT to be great WORKER BEES --- They tend to be better INNOVATORS*

5/17/2022

*Also Entrepreneurs, Artists, and Mono-Taskers in which the task is sufficiently complex

Conjecture

A big part of this is that the Society just isn't set up for people with significantly different SENSORY PROCESSING ISSUES and the RAMIFICATIONS.

The more that changes, the more AWARENESS on the part of everyone --- the more opportunities that opens up

If you are processing significantly MORE INFORMATION and / or you have differences or deficits such as in DSYLEXIA ----- that's A TIME COST.

If that TIME COST is not factored in to one's work life, family life, personal life --- it is becoming more and more FORESEEABLE that:
- the person could be headed for a BURNOUT, and
- in extreme cases, BREAKDOWN.

Processing Speed is Impaired in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Relates to Social Communication Abilities

Helping a Child Who Has ADHD and Slow Processing Speed
https://www.verywellmind.com › ADHD › School

Oct 11, 2021 — Students with ADHD may be very bright, but slow processing speed can get in the way of schoolwork.

Dyslexia often causes a delay in the brain's processing speed. Those tests which reward speed, will always discriminate against children with this difficulty, consigning them to the bottom. One of the most widely used tests used to identify dyslexia is Rapid Automatic Naming known as RAN.

Processing Speed (RAN) | Nessy

SENSORY OVERLOAD and SLOW PROCESSING on the surface are such BORING ISSUES.

BUT I think they are keys to understanding why Neuro-Diverse people are struggling SO MUCH in our HYPER-EFFICIENT SOCIETY and why:

Their Developmental Differences are often progressing to ----
PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS.

Accurate Views of Ourselves are Crucial to Reduce the Anxiety Many Feel

5/14/2022

We're NOT perfect even if we were told we were "gifted."

We're NOT idiots even if others didn't recognize our intelligence or talent.

Conjecture

Gifted people fall all over various spectrums --- BUT there are definitely a Group that Struggled in School and a Group that Did GREAT in School.
I think there is often the "IDEA" that the "gifted" kids that did GREAT in school are STRAIGHT "GIFTED" and NOT 2e.
- My observation is that is just not the case.

Further, more and more Educators of Gifted Students are recognizing that these kids do often have EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DIFFERENCES.
- The idea that this is JUST ATTRIBUTABLE to NOT having to STUDY ----
  - I think is NOT REALITY.
- Further --- If you can pull it off --- you are probably MASKING in one or more ways.
- Because we have some often "SELF-DEFEATING IDEAS" about "EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING" and that there is "NO EXCUSE" for DIFFERENCES.
  - Whenever I hear "NO EXCUSE" --- I know I'm dealing with someone who is wanting to argue with REALITY.
  - I don't think you have to "AGREE" with any behavior --- BUT the BOTTOM LINE is there are going to be REASONS for it ---
    - AND those reasons aren't always what we "THINK."

More and more there are links between "giftedness," neuro-developmental differences and disorders, psychiatric disorders AND SENSORY PROCESSING DIFFERENCES.

ADHD and AUTISM are quite BLURRED.

There is an interesting study that posits that AUTISM is not a reduced or hypo development of the PRE-FRONTAL CORTEX --- it's a HYPER DEVELOPMENT of the PRE-FRONTAL CORTEX.

Resilience
Artist Development & Production

My observation is that there are a lot of "gifted" people in the LEGAL PROFESSION.

BUT a lot of lawyers found that the practice of law in some cases could be more like a Scott Turow novel than the learned profession they thought they were going into.

In any case, you were often confronted with a fair number of aggressive, smart people concerned with "JUSTICE" that got in over their heads.
At some point --- YOU may have become one of those people.

A lot of people have strong feelings about "JUSTICE" ---- people who went into LAW often have very strong feelings about "JUSTICE."

Adulting with Exceptionalities in the Criminal Justice System

ATTORNEY WELL BEING has become a HOT TOPIC in the past few years.

There are a lot reasons for that that operate on multiple levels.
BUT one of the reasons I think is that there are a fair number of "GIFTED" people with EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DIFFERENCES in a SYSTEM that is NOT prepared to ACCEPT them.

See Also: Frontiers of Neuroscience (2020)

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit abnormal processing of sensory inputs from multiple modalities and higher-order cognitive/behavioral response to those inputs.

Especially in Law & Medicine, I think you sometimes see "gifted people" who are sometimes quite BLURRED aspects of ADHD and Autism.

Different Minds --- Trying to get off the "road to hell"

5/14/2022

I think for both Neuro-Typicals and Neuro-Diverse people the ROAD TO HELL WAS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS.
"COULD YOU JUST TRY ---- THAT'S ALL I'M ASKING COULD YOU JUST TRY"

So many Neuro-Diverse people were ABUSED by the EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
The other side of that is so many Neuro-Diverse people were at the TOP of that SYSTEM and are spending so much time in ADULTHOOD trying NOT TO BE ARROGANT that they don't realize or painfully do realize many people consider them IDIOTS.

If you define "IDIOT" as someone whose EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING is DIFFERENT than a NEURO-TYPICAL'S EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING ---- then many NEURO-DIVERSE people are going to satisfy the criteria for this DEFINITION of "IDIOT."

If you define "GENIUS" as someone with SUBSTANTIVE STRENGTHS in greater proportions than Neuro-Typicals --- then many Neuro-Diverse people are going to satisfy the criteria for this DEFINITION of "GENIUS."

What BOTH Neuro-Typical and Neuro-Diverse people need is a MORE BALANCED VIEW of themselves and each other.

It really does come down to Einstein's insight ---- Let's not try to turn that Elephant into a Fish.
- Let's Up our game in identifying our own and others NATURAL STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES and
- Get CREATIVE and INNOVATIVE in WORKING TOGETHER for the benefit of Ourselves and Others.

A Strength-Based Approach for people with "Hyper-Connected Brains" is desperately needed. Is that going to be ENOUGH?--- Probably not.

5/5/2022

We're pretty much pushing the LIMITS of "HYPER-CONNECTED BRAINS" and Greater SENSORY PROCESSING.

Certainly in the "Gifted Community" --- there's recognition but there is also DENIAL.

With regard to relationships ---- "GIFTED" people really struggle ---
- they may have thought they really just needed to find someone who is just as smart and/or talented as they are
- if they managed to do that --- that generally didn't work out as well as they thought it was going to.

- One of the "GO TO EXPLANATIONS" has been--- well, "GIFTED" people are so drawn to "NOVELTY" that this is making relationships difficult
  - Is that true --- it could be.

The larger problem is that "GIFTED" / NEURO-DIVERSE people are so "SENSITIVE" or "REACTIVE" to the ENVIRONMENT --- STABILITY IS NOT THEIR MIDDLE NAME.

On the other hand, Neuro-Diverse people may be able to SOLVE A DETAILED PROBLEM or INTEGRATE ENORMOUS AMOUNTS of INFORMATION into ART for that "BIG PICTURE" --- a lot quicker than anybody else.

In our Society, a lot of what we tend to do is either put "GIFTED" / NEURO-DIVERSE people on a PEDESTAL or we're so pre-occupied with their EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DIFFERENCES --- that their BIG STRENGTHS get MISSED ALL TOGETHER.

Prince Ea --- "OUCH"

A lot of Neuro-Diverse people are in a lot of EMOTIONAL PAIN and that is sometimes accompanied with PHYSICAL PAIN.

RELATIONSHIPS are important for all people and they are certainly important for NEURO-DIVERSE PEOPLE

BUT

If we don't get to the UNDERLYING BIOLOGY of GREATER SENSORY OVERLOAD --- saying "OUCH" as important as it is ---

It is probably not going to be ENOUGH.

This goes beyond "ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS" to a POPULATION that has increasingly HIGHER LEVELS of NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION --- Neuro-Developmental DIFFERENCES and Psychiatric Disorders.

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Forward>>

NEURODiversity Wednesday

Reasoning, Emotion, Sensory Processing & Homeostasis

The Need for a Public Education Campaign on Neuro-diverse burnout

Tourette's is Part of Neuro-Diversity

Neuro-Diversity and a Ramped Up Stress Response

Giftedness & Parkinson's

To mask or not to mask

Neuro-Diverse People tend NOT to be great WORKER BEES --- They tend to be better INNOVATORS*

Accurate Views of Ourselves are Crucial to Reduce the Anxiety Many Feel

Different Minds --- Trying to get off the "road to hell"

A Strength-Based Approach for people with "Hyper-Connected Brains" is desperately needed. Is that going to be ENOUGH?--- Probably not.

Neuro-Diversity
Wednesday

(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)

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Neuro-DiversityWednesday(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)

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NEURODiversity Wednesday

Neuro-Diversity
Wednesday

(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)