Getting Conscious & Honest about "Filling In the Gaps" in Mental Health & Law --- The Need to Make Some Revisions

​People do need LOYALTY and it is HARD to go 360 --- and that is what we are called on to do.

Further, sometimes it is that person who seems 180 degrees from us  --- BUT often it is that person who is 1 or 2 degrees or less from us --- and we seem to be jostling for the same lane or niche.  

• the BRUTALITY of "INFIGHTING" is definitely there.

APPLYING this APPARENT CONFLICT between LOYALTY and SUBSTANCE and how this sometimes plays out for people who are maybe STRONGER on SUBSTANCE and WEAKER on EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING.

• First, "EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING"  seems more OBJECTIVE than FACIAL CONTOURS so ---
  • ​The GROUP can generally CONSOLE THEMSELVES by saying "HEY, we're NOT UNFAIRLY DISCRIMINATING --- we're using OBJECTIVE CRITERIA."​
• How did this NEURO-DIVERSE person get STRONGER on SUBSTANCE?
  • ​They probably asked a lot of questions because they had to.
    • ​Yeah, they don't have that AUTOMATIC FUNCTIONING to the same degree, BUT ALSO . . .
    • They need the DOPAMINE RUSH and other kind of RUSHES from SOLVING PROBLEMS --- that of necessity become MORE COMPLEX
      • ​we're not staying at SIMPLE ADDITION or LEARNING the ALPHABET --- we're MOVING ON.
  • ACADEMIA is definitely a kind of INSTITUTION and ACADEMIC FREEDOM is IMPORTANT 
    • ​Most people in their jobs don't have that
    • People in this COUNTRY have a RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH but they don't have a RIGHT TO A JOB.
      • ​MEANING --- most employment is AT-WILL --- and you can be fired for a lot less than a substantive disagreement.
      • ​Further --- there are these EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING ISSUES that can actually GET WORSE if you can't get SUFFICIENTLY CHALLENGED in your STRENGTHS.
  • ​So some Neuro-Diverse People are coming in these quite ASYNCHRONOUS packages that are hard to FIGURE OUT if you're the person much less someone else.
  • In our SOCIETY, NEURO-DIVERSE People at the TOP of Politics and BUSINESS are sometimes allowed to RUN AMUCK (think the US PRESIDENCY -- there are examples from BOTH DEMOCRATS & REPUBLICANS) and
    • At the BOTTOM --- NEURO-DIVERSE People are often unwittingly ABUSED and NEGLECTED.
  • Now is maybe a good time when we have so many STAFFING PROBLEMS in so many areas to REALIZE that we need EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES more of a 2-Way Street and/or look at more CREATIVE OPTIONS such as SUPPORTED ENTREPRENEURSHIP.    ​

​It seemed so amazing when CAL-TECH's David Anderson was just logically explaining on his TEDx Talk why pouring psychiatric medication on billions of neural circuits globally might cause some unintended problems.

Now we're beyond BILLIONS of NEURO-CIRCUITS --- we're at TRILLIONS of MICROBIOTA --- and we're carrying around more of their genetic material than our own.

Further, those MICROBIOTA appear to be talking with our BRAINS and one of the pathways appears to be the STRESS HORMONE CORTISOL which is part of the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM.​

 The NECESSITY of RELIGION, REVISION --- and CONSERVATION

• When I use the word "Religion" ---- I am referring to the monotheistic religions, the various spiritual paths, historical development of "Religious Beliefs" in humans which were originally not separate from other aspects of LIFE, CULTURE and ultimately "CIVILIZATION."

 

• ​In addition to those meanings of "RELIGION" ---- I'm referring to the ESSENTIAL NEED to FILL IN GAPS of our IMPERFECT  KNOWLEDGE.

 

• The PARADOX of our EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE BASE is --- it also EXPONETIALLY EXPANDS our AWARENESS of how much we don't know.

 

• SCIENCE is a wonderful thing and it does often require REVISION of BELIEFS we used to FILL IN THE GAPS ---
  • ​BUT the IDEA that Science can OBVIATE the NEED to FILL IN GAPS --- seems DELUSIONAL, MAGICAL and even DANGEROUS THINKING. 

 

• REMEMBER:  Seemingly OPPOSING IDEAS are not necessarily CONTRADICTIONS --- if you can view them in DIFFERENT RESPECTS.

Big Think
Us vs. Them Explained

There's a lot in this short video  ---

RESOLVING the CONFLICT between LOYALTY and SUBSTANTIVE CONTENT is a BIG CHALLENGE for our Societies right now.

I think historically --- Societies have tended to shore up problems in the Society by focusing on an OUTSIDE ENEMY.

BUT we're not doing that AS MUCH --- but it is HIGHLIGHTING the CONFLICTS within the COUNTRY or GROUP --- and we don't always have the TOOLS to RESOLVE those.  

Further, many of the ASSUMPTIONS Mental Health has on "PRO SOCIAL COMPETENCY" need to be QUESTIONED.

The ASSUMPTIONS that LAW has and MOST PEOPLE have about "BAD INTENT" need to be QUESTIONED ---- 

• when most of the time --- if we go just 2 or 3 links back in that causal chain and more specifically get to the UNDERLYING BIOLOGY, we find:
  • ​BRAIN INJURY
  • NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER
  • PSYCHIATRIC DISORDER, and/or
  • ​A SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER that is often RELATED to one or more  of the above.   ​

Image Credit: NPR --- What's a Paradigm Shift

It's hard to overstate how much of our "Mental Health Crisis" is owing to PARTIAL and INCORRECT PARADIGMS.

• Right up at the TOP is FAILING to RECOGNIZE that the population of NEURO-DEVELOPMENTALLY DIFFERENT PEOPLE (generally, with more DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION) is making up the BULK of the PSYCHIATRIC POPULATION, and for that matter the SUBSTANCE USING POPULATION as well.
• Further, GENES are important --- BUT they are generally SHARED across our conceptualizations of these DISORDERS

Add to GENES ---MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION, RAMPED UP POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOPS, LESS THAN PERFECT ENVIRONMENTS and EPIGENETICS ---

• And you end up with IDIOSYNCRATIC, INDIVIDUAL CHALLENGES --- that often resemble those DSM categories at some point --- BUT often don't quite fit  in them -- and often more than one "DIAGNOSIS" can seem to be implicated.

​I think one of the reasons the Mental Health Profession has been so SLOW on the UP-TAKE with regard to the SIGNIFICANCE and IMPLICATIONS of a scientifically INVALID DIAGNOSTIC MANUAL:

• ​Sure they don't have anything else --- BUT by and large they they are trying to tailor their treatments to the INDIVIDUAL.

BUT if the BIOLOGY is UNKNOWN or UNCLEAR === you might fill in the gaps with the PRO SOCIAL COMPETENCY RELIGION --- that sounds INNOCUOUS  ENOUGH --- and I would say maybe even NECESSARY ----

• ​BUT --- it's NOT corresponding with the RESEARCH of the last 10 years which BUILT on all the preceding RESEARCH -- but is coming with NEW SIGNIFICANT UNDERSTANDINGS.
  • ​By and large, more ADDITION than SUBTRACTION.
  • So NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL and PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS absolutely involve the BRAIN and the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, but they also involve:
    • ​The IMMUNE SYSTEM,
    • The Microbiome 
    • The Endocrine System
    • Etc.

​-----and those Complicated Interactions.