Autoimmunity in Neurodiversity and Psychiatric Disorders and Maternal Immune Activation

Maternal Immune Activation as a Risk Factor for Schizophrenia: Evidence From Preclinical and Clinical Studies

• Maternal immune activation and neuroinflammation in human neurodevelopmental disorders  (Nature Reviews Neurology -- Aug. 2021)

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• The Future of Psychiatry and Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Paradigm Shift (2018) 
  • Abstract
    "A paradigm shift is now taking place in psychiatry with the emphasis on neurodevelopmental disorders with a neurobiologic emphasis and early onset including autism, ADHD, learning disability, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

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                    "This paradigm superseded the attachment paradigm of the second             half of the twentieth century with so many misguided theories such as, “blaming the  mother”—the so-called refrigerated mother  and the schizophrenogenic  mother.

"The new paradigm allows more focused treatment interventions."​

RIFFING

1.  If you want to know why we are not on top of the Mental Health Crisis --- just read the abstract above.   
2. I'll be 60 in 2023 -- and I've lived the bad paradigms of the late 20th Century and early 21st Century --- only now it's ----COPING SKILLS and RESILIENCE.   
   1. When I say "I've lived the bad paradigms" --- what do I mean?
      1. A movement disorder that is not really Tourette's but did come on at childhood and family members and co-workers (especially at The Legal Center --- now Disability Law Colorado -- were aware of --- "TOUCHDOWN" --- that's me with my arms in the air as I'm thinking)
      2. Two or Three Trips to the Psychologist in 4th Grade --- ultimate verdict -- my mom should chill out about my wardrobe choices and let me be me.
      3. Saw a therapist three or four times for depression when I was about 37 while pregnant.
      4. A psychotic episode when I was 43 that was potentially extremely dangerous.
      5. At 50, a diagnosis of ADHD.

             
​                [With the current paradigms--- it's pretty hard to do much with that. 

                  But with the NEW PARADIGMS, we're bringing in:

• Maternal Immune Activation
• BLURRED DIAGNOSTIC CATEGORIES
• DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION
• The ENDOCRINE SYSTEM is involved
• Etc.

                   -----With the NEW PARADIGMS --- we have a much better handle on what's going on --- even though it's not perfect.

1. Of course, knowing what the hell you're talking about is right up there, too.
   1. ​This may seem IRONIC to say for someone who engages in as much CONJECTURE as I do  
2.  But we haven't known about DEVELOPMENTAL  INFLAMMATION.
3. In 2021 many of our researchers do know --- BUT that hasn't been effectively transmitted to CLINICIANS, FAMILY MEMBERS, INDIVIDUALS and the SOCIETY at large,   ​​ ​

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• Immunological Dysfunction in Tourette Syndrome and
  Related Disorders
• ​Parental Autoimmune Diseases Associated With Autism Spectrum Disorders in Offspring 
• Autoimmune Diseases and Psychotic Disorders​

Mental Health Patients have been written off for a long time as having "SOMATIC COMPLAINTS" in which the mental health professional often couldn't find a physical source.

At least in a significant number of cases, Maternal Immune Activation is not only often contributing to related IMMUNE DYSREGULATION such as THYROID DISORDERS and other IMMUNE DISORDERS, but that Maternal Immune Activation is a PRIMARY SOURCE of the NEURO-DIVERSITY and/or PSYCHIATRIC DISORDER .

This isn't saying that PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS are not a brain disease, but many researchers are conceptualizing PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS as MULTI-SYSTEM DYSREGULATIONS --- and certainly as well as the Central Nervous System --- the IMMUNE SYSTEM,  MICROBIOME and the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM are prime systems associated with these DYSREGULATIONS.

I think it is going to take the NAMIs and Mental Health Americas to make bringing this research to clinicians a PRIORITY --- because it certainly doesn't seem to be a PRIORITY.

A few years ago, NAMI Montana did take on mental health's beleaguered diagnostic system.    ​

These new understandings can fuel policy reform even as they are INCOMPLETE.   Knowledge is always incomplete.

The On-Going and Unfinished Pursuit of Knowledge is why a robust PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH to CRIMINAL JUSTICE is needed:

• Psychiatric PARADIGMS are changing and we don't have the systems to incorporate those new understandings and consider the implications  in a timely manner, AND
• Those new understandings are going to keep coming and at a faster and faster pace --- we need something both more nimble and sophisticated than what we currently have to keep up. ​