New Understandings Matter: Neuro-Developmental DifferencES, Psychiatric Disorders, Shared Genes, Maternal Immune Activation & Blurred Categories of ADHD & AUTISM

One of the big reasons we are in CRISIS MODE all the time for Mental Health is that the FOUNDATIONAL UNDERSTANDINGS are NOT SUFFICIENT.

That is starting to change --- BUT so many people are being missed because they don't fit into DSM CATEGORIES that are NOT TRUE FUNDAMENTAL CATEGORIES that track the UNDERLYING BIOLOGY.

BEING PRO SOCIALLY COMPETENT for the SOCIETY is GOOD --- BUT it is not really a SUBSTITUTE FOR UNDERSTANDING those underlying BIOMARKERS.

Conjecture

So One of the BIG New Understandings is that:

• Psychiatric Disorders are often related to Neuro-Developmental Disorders.

The understanding above is very much related to the research that:

• Psychiatric Disorders & Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders --- Share Common Genes.

These Neuro-Developmental Disorders are so BLURRED that many people are MISSED, and the research is bearing out that people with BLURRED aspects of ADHD and AUTISM are OFTEN MISSED.

Homeostasis / Sustainability may not be HUGELY DIFFERENT for Neuro-Diverse people (sometimes it is) --- BUT it is DIFFERENT ENOUGH that it matters.

• People with Neuro-Developmental Differences / Disorders have RAMPED UP STRESS RESPONSES --
• And often because they are OPERATING in TOTAL or SEMI-IGNORANCE -- they are subject to a lot of STRESS, and
• They are more vulnerable to PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS.

Kings College London (2019)
Thinking Twice About ADHD & Autism Spectrum Disorder

Emerging View that Anti-Social Personality Disorder is a Neuro-Developmental Disorder

Maternal Immune Activation Alters Adult Behavior

Neuroscience News
Brains of People With Schizophrenia Related Disorders Aren’t All the Same

https://neurosciencenews.com/schizophrenia-neurobiology-10430/
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Canadian researchers say:

​ "It turned out that the relationship between brain function and social behaviour had nothing to do with conventional diagnostic categories in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).”

National Institute of Mental Health:  5 Disorders Share Common Genes (2013)

"Now that doesn't match with the idea that these are distinct."

See Also:

The Definitional Argument in Mental Health & Criminal Justice

NEXT FRIDAY:

More Conjecture

EPIGENETICS --- which can serve as a form of Neuro-Plasticity and Beyond.

Is it the BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS, the WORST, IT DEPENDS?

IT is what it IS --- and we need to understand it a lot better than we do.

EPIGENETICS are more and more recognized as  critical mechanisms in auto-immune diseases, neuro-developmental differences, psychiatric disorders and cancer.