Val's Blog 2

Going from "I can't believe this" to "no wonder" ---The biological basis of behavior as a blessing

5/23/2025

Val's Take/Conjecture

Sapolsky's book "Behave: The Biology of our Best & Worst Selves" --- is really not just an argument for the Biological Basis of BAD Behavior --- but the Biological Basis of Behavior in both GOOD and BAD Behavior.

I think ultimately we will be able to accept as a GIVEN --- the biological basis of behavior.
- New Zealand in one government document appears to accept that.

The neurobiology of antisocial personality disorder (2024)

God of the Gaps, Criminal Liability of the Gaps

Moving On to the Biological Basis of Behavior as an Important Rationale for a public health approach to criminal justice

Robert Sapolsky
Free Will is Nothing but a Myth

I don't think "FREE WILL" is a myth -- BUT "FREE WILL" is not as all encompassing or absolute as we have often conceptualized it.

One of the problems that I have found with the "FREE WILL vs. Determinism" Debate is that IT IS RUNNING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.

We're not starting out with absolute free will --- but we are gradually gaining more and more control.

One of the things that is particularly disconcerting is that we are still DISCOVERING our own biology. Gee, I thought we already knew that --- didn't you guys figure that out in the 18th Century --- No, Huh. . .

Former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health Thomas Insel tried to break this to us by saying we don't have a parts list for the brain --- This is an Age of Discovery.

Now some of those parts have been discovered since Insel made those statements over a decade ago (including over 3,000 different cell types in the brain)--- but the point is --- even in the 21st Century we're still figuring this out.

How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin and the Free Will vs. Determinism Debate

IMPERFECTION and Faith, REASON & Empiricism

5/13/2025

Val's Take: There's a complicated relationship among FAITH, REASON & EMPIRICISM (SCIENCE). Further, it's not that one is perfect and the others aren't.

None of them are PERFECT, but that is why we need all three of them.

There is irony to understanding "the biological basis of behavior," the many, many moving parts, systems and bacteria we're still discovering.

Enya
Anywhere Is

The new pope Leo XIV came from the Augustine Order. St. Augustine was said to have inspired both the Medieval Scholastics and the Humanists.

His Confessions have led some to refer to him as "the BAD BOY of NORTH AFRICA."

Spirituality & Mental Illness

Ideas and the Need for Conversation & Dialogue

Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked

Faith, Criminal Justice & Bringing Religion in from the Cold

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin and the free will vs. determinism debate

The Cognitive Errors of Modern American Society Intelligence, Sexuality, Energy & Equality

3/8/2025

Val's Take/Conjecture

I have talked about being PRO-LIFE because I think my own experiences and reading of the research would indicate that many if not most of us are COMPLICATED MIXED BAGS.
Further, people who are on some eugenics crusade or similar bandwagon --- tend to have their own neuro-developmental and/or psychiatric issues ---
- which are often related to Neuro-Developmental Inflammation

It "appears" that there may be a CATCH-22 when it comes to "INTELLIGENCE," "BIO- ENERGY," "EMOTIONAL REGULATION" and "INFLAMMATION" ----

affecting everyone who is "AGING" --- which is everyone and
prematurely affecting people with more Neuro-Developmental Inflammation.

Previously, we've viewed males as more subject to Neuro-Developmental Disorders and Women as more subject to Psychiatric Disorders.

What about that Neuro-Developmental/Psychiatric Continuum?
It's not that females can't be a safety risk, BUT males with:
- neuro-developmental and/or psychiatric disorders
- and/or brain injury and/or
- substance issues
- are more of a safety risk.

On the other hand, much of this can be traced to Maternal Immune Activation (even the Brain Injury which is often associated with ADHD).

Further, there is also Paternal Immune Activation, and
These biological issues often have Generational Histories.

Scientific Reality, A Kinder Gentler Nation & Coming to terms with the State of Nature

How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin and the Free Will vs. Determinism Debate

The Definitional Argument in Mental Health & Criminal Justice Policy

Lateral Thinking & Conspiracy Theories

Pharrell Williams
Freedom

Pharrell Williams is presenting a sophisticated view of "Freedom" --- that sees the Universe made of the same things.

We do have amazing INTELLECTUAL POWER --- and we are NOT CLONES -- we're DIVERSE.

We're struggling to conceptualize LGBTQ+ (which is pretty diverse community in itself).

Google AI says that LGBTQ+ is not a neuro-developmental disorder --- but does say ---

LGBTQ+ is associated with "Autism." Hmmm . . .

Our neuro-developmental/psychiatric categories are messy and in the process of revision and being re-conceptualized in profound ways.

Further, there are significant sex differences between Males and Females --- and that can be expressed in tremendous diversity under Maternal Immune Activation.

Finally, I'm not really buying the idea that these intense human conflicts are between Neuro-Typical people and Neuro-Diverse people.

It seems to me that DIVERSE Neuro-Diverse Folks are well represented on all sides.

What's the Point?

We need to understand foundational biological issues better than what we actually do.

There are significant numbers of LGBTQ youth who are homeless.
- The society seems confused as to whether sexual identity and orientation are a life-style choice or biologically driven.
- We don't seem to have a common understanding of what we're talking about.

With respect to cognitive disability in Criminal Justice, we're uncertain about biological drivers of intent.

Somebody like me, I am persuaded by some algebraic argument involving the biological basis of behavior ---
But even I want as much specificity as possible with regard to that underlying biology.

Metabolic Psychiatry & a Significant Paradigm shift

4/27/2024

Val's Take

Metabolic Psychiatry is precipitating a paradigm shift.
I think in the next 5 years, maybe less --- the Mental Health System will be incorporating some aspects of Metabolic Psychiatry.
Particularly interesting is that metabolomic biomarkers have already been found for bipolar disorder and depression.
What happens if we find metabolomic biomarkers for anti-social personality disorder?
I always understood that a Public Health Approach to Criminal Justice was largely dependent on better understandings.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) took on the American Psychiatric Association and the DSM 5 --- but it was politically fraught. Further, there was no replacement for the DSM 5.
The Metabolic Mind folks, relying on research of large universities, are not afraid to take on the status quo.
Further, I think if Clinicians actually have access to the research --- I don't know that it will be that hard a sell.

I have followed the science on Neuro-Developmental Disorders and Psychiatric Disorders because I believed there did need to be major change in Mental Health practice.

That change isn't fully here --- but I think the foundation has been laid. All the questions haven't been answered but it feels like a huge step up from where we've been and profound understandings have been acquired.

WE NEED a "NaRRATIVE" that hangs together when it comes to the Neuro-developmental - Psychiatric ContinuumThat could vastly improve Public Policy & Justice

4/5/2024

Kurt Vonnegut --- "Cat's Cradle"

Val's Take/Conjecture

There is A LOT to weave together when it comes to understanding the Neuro-Developmental-Psychiatric Continuum and it's relationship to other disorders.
The DOMINANT PARADIGM of the last 60 years --- "JUST TAKE THE DAMN MEDICATION" --- probably averted some tragedies and created others.
When we see a bunch of people lying on the street --- one idea is that "THEY'RE JUST LAZY."
Another possibility is some of them have serious METABOLIC DISORDERS that involve the brain and it's ability to produce ATP to run not only the brain but the rest of the body, including the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM.

People subject to MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION during their own time in the womb tend to have "HYPER-CONNECTED BRAINS."
I would submit that "HYPER-CONNECTED BRAINS" require more ATP to operate.

One of the things that some studies are pondering are the GENERATIONAL ASPECTS to MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION.

We live in such an INDIVIDUALISTIC CULTURE that CONNECTIONS to the BROADER WORLD are often DENIED --- sometimes out of PRACTICALITY we don't have the BANDWIDTH to consider it.

BUT what this often looks like is a BIG MORAL JUDGMENT coming down on the INDIVIDUAL.

It's probably no accident that the DEADLIEST Psychiatric Disorders are EATING DISORDERS.

One of the challenges, probably not the only challenge, is to make KETOGENIC DIETS --- HEART HEALTHY.

We did go through a period of LOW FAT, HIGH SUGAR that was pretty DISASTROUS in the weight-loss market.

I think more and more people recognize the problem of sugar but CAFFIENATED DRINKS and ENERGY DRINKS --- that market is HUGE ---- and I would submit it is because many people don't have the ENERGY to get through the day and they are looking for a QUICK FIX.

The effect of caffeine is related to its structural similarity to adenosine. Adenosine is a nucleotide and is important for coding genes, but it is also used for energy in the form of ATP and as a neuromodulator and signaling molecule. When the brain is active, it consumes lots of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) as an energy source.

Reference: Caffeine: How it works and myths surrounding it - Chemistry ...

Sleep Foundation: Caffeine and Sleep

Key Takeaways
Caffeine promotes wakefulness by blocking adenosine, a sleep-inducing chemical.
Sensitivity to caffeine varies among individuals and depends on how often it is consumed.
Avoid caffeine at least 8 hours before bedtime to ensure better sleep quality.
Reduce your daily caffeine intake if you notice insomnia, anxiety, or headaches impacting your ability to sleep.

Unfortunately, even DIET SODAS are bad for our TEETH and if it's BAD for our TEETH --- it's generally bad for our PHYSICAL & MENTAL HEALTH.

I have started to include MORE FAT in my diet and the effects were pretty DRAMATIC --- I seemed to not only need less LITHIUM, but also LESS DIET COKE.

I think if people have HEALTHY WAYS to MANAGE their BIOLOGY --- They'll DO IT.

BUT TRUTH is the Medical Professional has been all over the map the past few decades regarding diet advice and some of it was TRULY CATASTROPHICALLY UNHEALTHY.

AND for those people who DON'T LOOK LIKE they have SPECIAL NEEDS --- BUT DO ---

YOU MY FRIEND ARE AT VERY HIGH RISK.

Wilma Mankiller --- 1st Female Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Transgenerational Effects of Maternal Immune Activation on Specific Antibody Responses in Layer Chickens.

Verwoolde MB, Arts J, Jansen CA, Parmentier HK, Lammers A. Front Vet Sci. 2022 Feb 17;9:832130. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.832130. eCollection 2022. PMID: 35252424 Free PMC article.

Activation of the maternal immune system may affect innate and adaptive immune responses in the next generation and may therefore have implications for vaccine efficacy and dietary immune modulation by feed additives. ...Furthermore, our …

Maternal immune activation transgenerationally modulates maternal care and offspring depression-like behavior.

Ronovsky M, Berger S, Zambon A, Reisinger SN, Horvath O, Pollak A, Lindtner C, Berger A, Pollak DD. Brain Behav Immun. 2017 Jul;63:127-136. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2016.10.016. Epub 2016 Oct 17. PMID: 27765645 Free article.

Gestational infection is increasingly being recognized for its involvement as causative mechanism in severe developmental brain abnormalities and its contribution to the pathogenesis of psychopathologies later in life. First observations in the widely accepted maternal …

Transgenerational Sex-dependent Disruption of Dopamine Function Induced by Maternal Immune Activation.

Santoni M, Frau R, Pistis M. Front Pharmacol. 2022 Feb 8;13:821498. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.821498. eCollection 2022. PMID: 35211019 Free PMC article.

Mounting evidence supports the hypothesis that detrimental effects of maternal immune activation might be transmitted across generations. ...These results confirm that maternal immune activation negatively influences, in a sex-depe …

At the end of the day, WE DON'T HAVE THIS FIGURED OUT we're figuring it out.

That matters when it comes to JUSTICE and BURDEN of PROOF

Burden of Proof

A mental Health Profession that doesn't want to treat people with "developmental Disabilities" and criminal Justice

12/11/2023

Conjecture

I am gonna continue my bitching about the Mental Health Profession in this but I'm gonna include Legal --- Criminal Justice as well and maybe some other aspects of "STREET LAW."

I don't think "DISABILITY LAW" is where it needs to be when it comes to "COGNITIVE DISABILITY" --

but I think it is generally closer to "REALITY" than a lot of what we're doing.
And in the last 10 years, Disability Law has slowly recognized that many of the highest need people they are trying to advocate for are actually in the Criminal Justice System.

The Mental Health Profession --- OMG!

Once you realize that most people in the mental health profession don't want to work with people with "developmental disabilities"
- You realize what a nightmare scenario this can be.

Further, these "developmental issues" are coming in the context of "SENSORY PROCESSING" and literally CELLULAR "REACTIVITY"
- not necessarily in a lower IQ.

BUT if we're EQUATING EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING with IQ that is likely to do MORE HARM THAN GOOD.

In fact --- IQ or some type of Special Ability or Special Interest --- may be HIGHER THAN THE NORM.

I think this is also a CLUE as to why we have really struggled to define INTELLIGENCE ---
- I think it can come wrapped in some idiosyncratic SENSORY PROCESSING.

This Has Some IMPLICATIONS for our CURRENT INTELLECTUAL LIMITS

a lot of who we study in school are neuro-diverse people who had some big strengths and some surprizing challenges.
trying NOT to ROMANTICIZE that is important
HIERARCHY doesn't really work that well to manage the strengths and challenges of almost 8 BILLION PEOPLE.

I'm NOT A TRUE BELIEVER in Mental Health's "PRO-SOCIAL COMPETENCY" Religion

--- even though I consider myself extremely "PRO-SOCIAL."

CRIMINAL LAW but also FAMILY LAW ---

has been experimenting with some DIFFERENT MODELS
- Problem-Solving Courts
- Collaborative Law
We're needing to add to these models a PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH that is EVOLVING ---
- and may not be what we have traditionally thought in this area.

The Limits of Neuro-Plasticity (2010) by Neuro-Skeptic

Val's Note: I'm NOT SKEPTICAL over the Long Term that we will ultimately be able to surpass some if not all of these limits.

And PROGRESS IS BEING MADE.

BUT we're not there yet in many cases, but we're often PRETENDING we are.

Psychiatry & the Criminal Justice System: Simplicity on the Near Side of Complexity

3 Big Takeaways from the Research

This is the BIG KAHUNA --- Neuro-Diversity is a big source of "Mental Illness"

New Understandings Matter

The Biological Basis of Behavior: The Slow Process of Coming to Terms

11/2/2022

Conjecture

I think a BIG THEME in Human History right now is COMING TO TERMS WITH SOME RELATIVELY DIFFICULT LIMITS in COMPLEX NATURAL PROCESSES that we ---

WEREN'T AWARE OF --- or
DIDN'T REALLY UNDERSTAND
- and that "UNDERSTANDING" is in the best of times generally RELATIVE
AND "UNDERSTANDING" requires coming to terms with:
- SOME BIG COSTS
- RE-ALLOCATING RESOURCES

On the ENVIRONMENT SIDE we're coming to terms with CLIMATE CHANGE.

On the BIOLOGICAL SIDE we are slowing coming to terms with the GUT-IMMUNE-BRAIN TRIAD.
- Human Behavior was already complicated.
- It's a lot more complicated than we thought.

The "BIG LIE" or "IGNORANCE" in MODERN SOCIETY has been that nothing is connected ----
- and that we're on TOP OF THIS---
  - WE'RE NOT.

In the Legal System --- this is about one isolated BAD ACT and BAD INTENT ----
- to see more integrated and complicated patterns, including HISTORICAL issues ---
  - That include Genocide, Slavery, Jim Crow as well as a move away from Traditional Farming Practices, Plastics in our bodies, etc.---

We don't have the "SYSTEMS" to deal with that --- NOT ON THE SCALE NEEDED.

It is very hard to go 10 feet in this Society without running into some PROFOUND TRAUMA --- even if you "INDIVIDUALLY" didn't suffer CHILDHOOD TRAUMA or have ADULT PTSD.

Further, SECONDARY TRAUMA is an issue for many people PERSONALLY and PROFESSIONALLY and BIOLOGICALLY.

Trauma, Toxins, Maternal Immune Activation, Auto-Immune Diseases, Cancer, Long-Haul COVID --- all of these can have PSYCHIATRIC RAMIFICATIONS.

Physical BOUNDARIES / Emotional BOUNDARIES can be important --- But they often are a "TEMPORARY FIX" ---If we don't deal with the UNDERLYING ISSUES -- things tend to get worse.

Image Credit: European Society for Translational Medicine

We need to invest more in TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH and MEDICINE regarding the BRAIN-IMMUNE-GUT (Endocrine, Metabolism) CONNECTION to Behavior---

Further, TRANSLATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE APPLICATIONS are NEEDED NOW.

The Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University

New understandings regarding relationships between Neuro-developmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders & Neuro-Inflammatory biomarkers should be transformative

11/1/2022

New Genetic Evidence Suggests a Continuum Among Neurodevelopmental and Psychiatric Disorders

The understanding that Neurodiversity/Neuro-Developmental Differences or Disorders are underlying many psychiatric complaints SHOULD BE TRANSFORMATIVE.
It is very much about getting out of the PERSONALITY DISORDER grab bag of problematic behaviors ---
- Which is problematic for women, and
- It is especially problematic for men in Criminal Justice.
While at the same time hopefully getting out of LATE DIAGNOSIS of people who have become adept at MASKING and whose STRENGTHS have been recognized at least on some level.
- Even if some of us somehow escaped a personality disorder diagnosis.
- All was not well --- and clinicians were often ill prepared to recognize or address DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES/DISORDERS.
  - THIS IS ONE OF THE BIG REASONS WHY WE ARE NOT GETTING ON TOP OF OUR MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS.

ICERN Web Library of Neuropsychiatry

ICERN: International Centre for Research & Education in Neuropsychiatry

Focusing on novel neuroinflammatory biomarkers and targets in understanding and managing suicide

BIOMARKERS as they slowly become available I think will reveal a quite COMPLICATED SOCIETY ---

Whose SUBJECTIVE JUDGMENTS are SUSPECT.
Further, the UNCONSCIOUS BIAS behind them and the "REASONABLENESS" of the Majority represent their own kind of PERNICIOUS TYRANNY.
- I'm not against "REASONABLENESS" -- but failing to appreciate DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES is NOT REASONABLE.

Unconscious Bias

The Denver Gazette & a Broader Critique of Underlying Related Debates & Policy

10/31/2022

To me the admonition "Don't Judge" is not just a feel good spiritual directive.

It's PRACTICAL.

MORAL JUDGMENTS are what people have used to PROTECT THEMSELVES:

Physically, and
Also against WASTEFUL USE of RESOURCES

We do need to protect ourselves and the community:

physically, and
from wasteful use of resources.

It's pretty hard to ignore that we're not getting the RESULTS or OUTCOMES we want in Mental Health.

We've developed some EXPERTISE at managing CRISES
The LONG TERM PICTURE is more complicated
And there are MORE CRISES.

With respect to HOMELESSNESS, it does involve a lot of people with SUBSTANCE USE PROBLEMS but UNDERLYING that tends to be:

Brain Injury --- that people with Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders are more likely to experience
Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders
Psychiatric Disorders that are related to Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders, and
Trauma --- that unfortunately people with Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders are more likely to experience and to experience more keenly.

To me, it's MENTAL HEALTH (not the abortion debate) and COGNITIVE DISABILITY MORE BROADLY where PRO LIFE is most obviously challenged and is failing.

On the other hand, some of the states that have strict abortion laws and that outlawing abortion maybe more of a PRACTICAL REALITY ----

are starting to WAKE UP that they need to support people in much better ways than they have.

[I do consider myself PRO-LIFE but I'm not for banning abortion and the decision to have an abortion I think is often arising "ORGANICALLY" from:

rape,
incest
a society that is struggling with sexuality on many fronts.
a society that is sometimes struggling to provide a living wage to it's "ESSENTIAL WORKERS"]

To me "Don't Judge" is practical. "Judging" solves the immediate problem --- but as Ma Joad said in John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath"---

"We're the people --- and we keep on comin' ".

I remember hearing death penalty attorneys I greatly looked up to saying:

"Okay, the Death Penalty doesn't deter crime --- it'll deter this person."

BUT those people keep comin'.

To address DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES is SCARY for a WORLD that went through WORLD WAR II and beyond that has gone through many GENOCIDES.

Pope Francis

Last Scene of The Grapes of Wrath (1940) based on the 1939 pulitizer prize winning book by John Steinbeck

Image Credit: safetymattersinc.org

the Denver Gazette: More funding, more homeless — go figure

The Denver Gazette is not all wrong --- BUT the Gazette is NOT all right either

JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)

New JAMA study finds administrative complexity as the single-largest source of wasteful spending

Psychiatric Disorders are more and more seen as related to Neuro-Developmental Disorders.

Both Psychiatric Disorders and Neuro-Developmental Disorders are often related to SHARED GENES and MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION.

OLMSTEAD CONNECTION: Not having sufficient TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH & MEDICINE is leading to the Unnecessary Institutionalization and Risk of Institutionalization inherent in Homelessness of people with Neuro-Developmental Disabilities.

Further, we do need more research.
BUT a lot of this is integrating what we've already got.

Alice Merton
No Roots

"A THOUSAND TIMES --- I've seen this road --- A THOUSAND TIMES."

The Grapes of Wrath

10/31/2022

A lot of what I'm trying to say with regard to:

Anti-Social Personality Disorder specifically and
More broadly Cognitive Disability in Criminal Justice, and
Even More Broadly --- Neuro-Diversity in the Society ---

IS BASED ON NEW KNOWLEDGE AND CONTINUING AREAS OF IGNORANCE & HUMAN LIMITS THAT ARE DIFFERENT THAN WE THOUGHT.

When we think of other animals --- we think sometimes about HOW MUCH MORE AWARE WE SEEM ---

But it is becoming more obvious--- that we are not as aware as we thought ---
It costs us a lot of ENERGY to bring things into CONSCIOUS AWARENESS --- and it is pretty much on an AS NEEDED BASIS.
Further, we look at living things like insects and they seem very expendable with brief lives or other animals in which many are conceived --- few survive --- and we think that we are so different.
BUT are we so different?
Now there are a lot of ways to look at this --- all these lives are meaningless OR these lives are meaningful in ways we don't appreciate.
Importantly, Professor Graham Rook at King's College London says we're not INDIVIDUALS --- WE'RE ECOSYSTEMS.
It doesn't look like we could ever have really gotten a firmer grasp on Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders and Psychiatric Disorders without MODERN TECHNOLOGY.
- The newly discovered roles of the Immune System and the Microbiome are NOT INTUITIVE based on our prior conceptualizations.
We have a lot of unconscious behaviors and unconscious cognitive shortcuts/biases --- at least in part TO SAVE ENERGY.

John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath
Directed by John Ford

What Would Happen If Everyone Truly Believed Everything Is One?

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