Do we have the right profession to address the "Neuro-developmental continuum"---?

​Genetic research supports the hypothesis that ID (Intellectual Disability), ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), ADHD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder lie on a neurodevelopmental continuum

​​There's a lot of "INTEGRATIVE COMPLEXITY" in the statement above from Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, and I suspect we will be UN-PACKING IT for the next century if not far beyond.

Much of how we REASON is to take the CAUSAL LINK we've come upon in the MOMENT and try to make sense of it and create a STORY and a NARRATIVE until we can't anymore --- the ANOMALIES have built up to such a degree that we know this STORY --- can't be "RIGHT."

The STORY the MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION is telling themselves and others regarding PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS is "NOT RIGHT" in FUNDAMENTAL WAYS that are preventing us from MORE EFFECTIVELY addressing the MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS that we see in most DEVELOPED COUNTRIES and DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.  ​

 

Is the STORY "WRONG" --- well, it is MISSING KEY ELEMENTS that would DRAMATICALLY CHANGE TREATMENT STRATEGIES in MANY CASES.

On the other hand --- DON'T THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATH WATER --- it is not as if there is nothing of value in our current approaches to treating "PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS."  

Further, many of  our current approaches have SAVED LIVES --- even as those approaches are NOT SUFFICIENT to address the CRISIS we're currently facing.   

​WORK has to be a TWO-WAY STREET and it may be most easily seen in the "EXTREME" of people with NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES and SERVICE PROVIDERS.

• You can't just RAM Neuro-Diverse people into any old WORK Environment and think it is going to "work out"
  • they often have BIG STRENGTHS that aren't getting SUFFICIENTLY CHALLENGED, and
  •  EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING Differences or Deficits that are not receiving SUFFICIENT SUPPORT.

"My New Job Isn't What I Signed Up For" --- Inc.com

​It has been HARD to understand how the Profession could:

• ​Blow off the significance of a scientifically invalid DSM, and
• Compelling Research of the last 5 to 10 years regarding the relationship between Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric DIsorders BUT
• This isn't necessarily APPEALING to the people who are currently in the Profession.

You can't just add FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS to the JOB Description of treating PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS --- and think everyone who is currently working under the title MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDER --- wants to do or is even well-suited to incorporate those FUNDAMENTAL NEW ELEMENTS.

Are neurodevelopmental disorders discrete conditions? (2018)

There is abundant evidence to indicate that neurodevelopmental disorders tend to co-occur, rather than existing as individual conditions.

​Could this ‘comorbidity’ reflect an overall atypical course of neural development, which manifests in various ways?

The NEW PARADIGMS from the RESEARCH view:

• Neuro-Developmental Disorders as BLURRED
• Psychiatric Disorders as BLURRED, and
• Psychiatric Disorders as DISORDERS of the NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL CONTINUUM

 
That's a far cry from the DSM and goes a long way to explaining why we are having such a hard time addressing our MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS ---

• ​We've got a bigger problem than we realize, and
• Our Systems are not set up to deal with it.
• Further, a lot of people who went into Mental Health wanted to do "Mental Health Therapy" --- NOT work with people with DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS --- but that is their primary population
  • ​THIS IS A PROBLEM.
  • There is a role for therapy, but much of what is needed is DIFFERENT than what is being offered.
  • Now, a lot of Mental Health Professionals if they had the TRAINING would be interested in working with people with DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS involving EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING.
  • Further, it is not as if Mental Health Professionals don't have some general knowledge, but by and large they are NOT the EXPERTS we need them to be, even if there are EXPERTS within their ranks, not surprisingly in EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY --- which is focused on more DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES.  

One of the points we've tried to make on this website is that CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM often FAILS because what's needed is so UNDER-ESTIMATED.

      At least in part, that can be traced to Medical and Educational Under-Estimations of what it actually takes to address DIFFERENCES or DEFICITS in EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING.

       To say this is DISASTROUS sounds like hyperbole --- UNTIL you realize:

• Most people with psychiatric disorders started out as people with neuro-developmental disorders involving EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING, and
• Graduated to people with psychiatric disorders and HYPER-CONNECTED BRAINS at least in part I would submit trying to manage those EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DIFFERENCES in a largely clueless if not PUNISHING SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT.

 

• Those super sensitive / reactive people are becoming more sensitive and more reactive in attempts to address EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING and that is DYSREGULATING SYSTEMS of the BODY even more.
• Finding BALANCE and SUSTAINABILITY is a much more CHALLENGING  PROPOSITION than we've been willing to recognize as a society ---- the more ASYNCHRONOUS the PERSON --- the more of a challenge that can be.  

We somehow have this IDEA that DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCE doesn't have any consequences if one has an AVERAGE or ABOVE-AVERAGE IQ.

• ​Of course, our MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS and who it is affecting is telling quite a different story.
• Further, that population of NEURO-DIVERSE people is steadily increasing as inflammation in the society and MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION increase.   

 
It is not fair to say that the SOCIETY is causing ALL the CHALLENGES --- but it is FAIR to say the SOCIETY is EXACERBATING the CHALLENGES by FAILING TO ADEQUATELY APPRECIATE THEM.

Image Credit:  VIA Institute on Character

Those NEURO-DIVERSE STRENGTHS that are a NATURAL ATTEMPT to BALANCE what may be MULTIPLE DYREGULATIONS of BODILY SYSTEMS by conventional standards --- may prove INSUFFICIENT ---

• but those NEURO-DIVERSE STRENGTHS are still an IMPORTANT COMPONENT to MENTAL & PHYSICAL WELL BEING.  ​