The devastating cost of late diagnosis --- Recognizing the link between Neuro-developmental and Psychiatric disorders

​When you survey many Neuro-Diverse Youtubers who might have a LABEL of ADHD or AUTISM --- they are often LATE DIAGNOSIS.

For some people like myself --- that NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DIAGNOSIS came a few more years after  a POTENTIALLY EXTREMELY DANGEROUS PSYCHOTIC EPISODE and a PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSIS in my mid-40s.

• Was this somehow related to MENOPAUSE --- maybe.
• There are a whole group of women who may have had some kind of depression or OCD in the past --- BUT that PSYCHOTIC EPISODE doesn't come until their 40s.
  • ​Comedian Maria Bamford comes to mind.

​
The number of factors one can legitimately find that affect "MENTAL HEALTH" is seemingly astronomical ----- and maybe that is a blessing in disguise because there are potentially A LOT of things we can address to modify or IMPROVE THINGS.

BUT the TRUE COST of that LATE DIAGNOSIS is DEVASTATING.

The Mental Health Profession actually has gotten pretty good if not EXCELLENT at addressing CRISES ----- and someone like myself as critical as I am ---- OWE the MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION A LOT.

BUT we've got to GET OUT OF LATE DIAGNOSIS and this is A LOT MORE THAN these little MENTAL HEALTH SCREENS.

This is really IDENTIFYING CHILDREN with NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES & DISABILITIES in elementary school and providing proper supports to address EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DIFFERENCES, among others with the GOAL of AVERTING GREATER PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS.

PRETTY MUCH I would submit we are talking about the EXCEPTIONALITIES --- kids in SPECIAL and GIFTED EDUCATION.  

See Also:

This is the Big Kahuna: Neuro-Diversity is a Big Source of "Mental Illness"

Hyper-Connected Brains ---- What Does That Mean & Why Can It Be Both A Blessing & a Curse

The Future of Psychiatry and Neurodevelopmental Disorders:  A Paradigm Shift  (2019) 

• FROM THE EDITED VOLUME

Neurodevelopment and Neurodevelopmental Disorder
Edited by Michael Fitzgerald

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.

Neurodevelopmental disorders—the history and future of a diagnostic concept (2020)

• Deborah J. Morris-Rosendahl, Clinical Genetics and Genomics, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK; NHLI, Imperial College London, UK;
• Marc-Antoine Crocq, Centre Hospitalier, Rouffach, France; CAMUHA, Université de Haute-Alsace, Mulhouse, France 

​Genetic research supports the hypothesis that ID, ASD, ADHD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder lie on a neurodevelopmental continuum.

Giftedness, Neuro-Diversity, Bipolar Disorder and Inflammation

Val's Note:   I think it can sometimes be very misleading when we talk about "DEFICITS" and these Neuro-Developmental and Psychiatric Disorders that are tied to:

• HYPER-CONNECTED BRAINS and
• Ramped Up Sensory Processing

If I'm not perceiving something and somebody else is perceiving that thing ---- it may be very easy for me to DISMISS that person as DISTRACTED and FOCUSING ON IRRELEVANT MATTERS -----

• Even if --- the matters are HIGHLY RELEVANT and CRUCIAL to an ACCURATE UNDERSTANDING.
• And you can't keep doing things the "OLD WAY" and keep your INTEGRITY

On the other hand, all this sensory processing can manifest in a lot of:

• Overwhelm
• Fatigue
• Etc. and
• DISTRESS at having to work so hard to be UNDERSTOOD by people who really don't know what you're talking about.

Further, this tends to be IDIOSYNCRATIC.   It really is IMPORTANT that we BUILD Inclusive Artistic, Intellectual and Spiritual Communities that can BETTER SUPPORT --- the "INTEGRATIVE COMPLEXITY" of the Neuro-Diverse Individual.