Blog Archives

The Problem with Criminal Intent: the Assumptions underlying this essential element of the crime

7/30/2021

What we've really been focused on as a society when it comes to Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System is:

Intellectual Developmental Disability (an IQ of 70 or below), and
FUZZY IDEAS about "MENTAL ILLNESS" and "INSANITY"

MEANWHILE

Researchers are finding that most mental illnesses are starting as DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES or DEFICITS related to INFLAMMATION.
Many people with "MENTAL ILLNESS" have AVERAGE or ABOVE AVERAGE IQs.
HIGH IQ/Talent found in "GIFTEDNESS" is also associated with Inflammation and Autoimmune Disease and other health issues -- which I think is why "GENIUS" has been associated with "MADNESS" since ANCIENT TIMES.

Inflammation is also a factor that can make BRAIN INJURIES --- WORSE. Further that INFLAMMATION often leads to MENTAL ILLNESS on top of the BRAIN INJURY.
That BRAIN INJURY and MENTAL ILLNESS often lead to SUBSTANCE ISSUES.
That person may have an Average IQ and be engaging in BAD ACTS with BAD INTENT ---- if we don't look at the UNDERLYING BIOLOGY of the BRAIN INJURY and we just look at the INTENT --- we're not in a position to understand ADEQUATELY what's driving the BAD ACTS and BAD INTENT or to EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS the SAFETY ISSUES presented by INDIVIDUAL, COMPLEX HEALTH ISSUES.

These COGNITIVE ISSUES tend to have DYNAMIC INTER-RELATIONSHIPS.
Another example, someone with ADHD might be more likely to incur a BRAIN INJURY in same cases due to Impulsiveness.
According to the latest research children with ADHD have more severe BRAIN INJURIES.
- That is likely related to Impulsiveness ---
- BUT another factor could be that the child with ADHD already has HIGH LEVELS OF INFLAMMATION and the IMMUNE RESPONSE to any BRAIN INJURY is going to be GREATER.

Even a Dog Distinguishes Between Being Stumbled Over and Being Kicked

Burden of Proof

Psychiatry, Neurology and Immunology Need to Explore PATHWAYS TO INTEGRATION

7/19/2021

It seems to me that Neurology is sometimes BRIDGING the GAP between Psychiatry and Immunology.
This is in some ways like Olmstead Planning --- there are a lot of ways one could do it, and a lot of ways NOT to do it.
Right now Neurology handles some Developmental Disabilities and Brain Injury.
Further, a Neurologist may be handling that question regarding Pediatric Autoimmune Neuro-Psychiatric Disorders.
Often High IQ Less Apparent Physical Differences such as ADHD and Autism are often handled by Mental Health, with Autism often having specialized Providers, especially for children.
Substance Issues are generally in the Mental Health Camp --- and generally poorly funded given the NEED.

Image Credit: Grovesnor Technology

What is so IMPORTANT is that:

Brain Injury
Developmental Disabilities
Mental Illness, and EVEN
SUBSTANCE ISSUES have an IMMUNE CONNECTION.

That is really the FUTURE OF TREATMENT for COGNITIVE DISABILITIES.

The people who need this the most, generally won't be able to pay most.

We need:

Leaders in the Medical Profession
Leaders in Federal & State Government

to PRIORITIZE Integration of Medical Disciplines to better serve Children, Adolescents and Adults with Cognitive Disabilities.

Feeling it

7/18/2021

If you're a rock, EROSION may be working on you day after day --- BUT YOU"RE NOT FEELING IT.

If you're a LIVING BEING --- YOU'RE "FEELING" it.

Famed Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio says we're NOT THINKING BEINGS THAT FEEL we are FEELING BEINGS that THINK.

How much we "FEEL" implicates multiple systems of the body, including the BRAIN and the IMMUNE SYSTEM.

In the 21st Century, we'd gone about as far as we could go in understanding PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS by focusing on the BRAIN alone.

Now much of the RESEARCH is focused on INTER-RELATIONSHIPS of MULTIPLE SYSTEMS of the BODY --- certainly including the BRAIN, but also including the IMMUNE SYSTEM, the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM, METABOLISM and the MICROBIOME which are in their own ways as UBIQUITOUS as the BRAIN in HUMAN FUNCTIONING.

92nd Street Y (2016)

"Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio believes that the mind is not just made up of the brain. It is the result of an integrated functionality between nervous systems and the rest of the organism's body."

Moving on to the biological basis of behavior as an important rationale for a Public health approach to criminal justice

7/15/2021

With the recognition by the American Psychiatric Association Foundation that:

the largest institutions of people with psychiatric disorders are jails and prisons, AND
psychiatric disorders are NOT AS DISTINCT AS WE THOUGHT (that is, they are not as distinct as presented in the DSM 5)

WE'RE MOVING ON ---- to

The Biological Basis of Behavior as an important RATIONALE for a PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH to CRIMINAL JUSTICE
We're NOT DENYING the importance of Environmental Factors such as Trauma or Toxins --- BUT we are saying they have Biological Consequences.

The Study below gets to the need to focus on:

Multi-System explanations for Psychiatric Disorders, and
To hone in on MOLECULAR TARGETS, including IMMUNOLOGICAL, ENDOCRINE and METABOLIC TARGETS.

ON THE OTHER HAND, we know how FRAUGHT this is and how our current PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATIONS are targeting the BRAIN GLOBALLY and having SIGNIFICANT UNENDED CONSEQUENCES for SOME PEOPLE while at the same time leaving many SYMPTOMS UNADDRESSED.

ART & SCIENCE were developed out of HUMAN NEED and that includes HUMAN EMOTIONAL NEED.

So I'm NOT suggesting leaving our CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS at the door when comes to either SCIENCE or SOFT THERAPIES we've developed because we didn't have anything else.

All of this must have a large dose of REALITY ---- especially with regard to COGNITIVE DISABILITIES involving Multiple Systems of the BODY and now affecting on some level --- 1/5 to 1/4 of the US Population and large percentages of the global population.

Stress, psychiatric disorders, molecular targets, and more (2019)

Affiliations

1Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States.
2Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.
3Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States

Abstract

Mental health is central to normal health outcomes. A widely accepted theory is that chronic persistent stress during adulthood as well as during early life triggers onset of neuropsychiatric ailments.

However, questions related to how that occurs, and why are some individuals resistant to stress while others are not, remain unanswered.

An integrated, multisystemic stress response involving neuroinflammatory, neuroendocrine, epigenetic and metabolic cascades have been suggested to have causative links.

Several theories have been proposed over the years to conceptualize this link including the cytokine hypothesis, the endocrine hypothesis, the oxidative stress hypothesis and the oxido-neuroinflammation hypothesis.

The data discussed in this review describes potential biochemical basis of the link between stress, and stress-induced neuronal, behavioral and emotional deficits, providing insights into potentially novel drug targets.

Leonardo Da Vinci, Einstein & Half-Right Ideas

7/14/2021

There are the "disaffected" youth with psychiatric problems,
BUT there are surprising number of ACADEMIC, ATHLETIC and/ or CREATIVE STARS with psychiatric problems as well.

Abstract Thinking is sometimes thought of as IMPRACTICAL.

BUT if you find one "HALF-RIGHT" IDEA, the likelihood that you'll find more "HALF-RIGHT" IDEAS supporting each other --- is I think HIGH.

That is why I think neuro-diverse people feel so trapped ---- IT'S NOT ONE HALF-RIGHT IDEA, IT'S MANY.

The DEFINITIONS of PSYCHIATRIC DISORDER and "INTELLIGENCE" appear to have a COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP.

Maybe everyone is not Leonardo da Vinci or Einstein --- nonetheless INFLAMMATION is creating a DIVERSE POPULATION ---- it is not all bad, it is not all good --- it is what it is.

Until we get that magic IMMUNOTHERAPY or SOMETHING ELSE --- we must IMPROVE:
- Identifying Strengths,
- Finding work arounds for Weaknesses, which are often Executive Functioning Differences or Deficits.

behind on the research & the ethics: the American Psychiatric Association

7/13/2021

If you were questioning the Catholic Church --- 500 years ago --- you were a HERETIC. If you question the Mental Health Profession in 2021 --- you just don't have sufficient PRO SOCIAL COMPETENCY.

We are in a SCARY SITUATION with the Mental Health Profession that is largely made up of NICE PEOPLE who don't appreciate the RAMIFICATIONS of the EMERGING PARADIGM SHIFT in Psychiatric Disorders.

What Are Those Ramifications?

We currently have a number of people who are TREATMENT RESISTANT and a significant percentage in the Criminal Justice System.
Well those people in the Criminal Justice System just have "ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER"
BUT WHAT IF THAT IS NOT TRUE?

Click Here for some of the New Research

University of Eastern Finland School of Medicine

University of Barcelona

Worried man blues

7/8/2021

Woody Guthrie --- Worried Man Blues (1944)

Just when you thought we couldn't link the IMMUNE SYSTEM to anything else --- we're going to link it to HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE --- which caused Woody Guthrie to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital and ultimately killed him.

So the BIG NEWS is NOT so much that all COGNITIVE DISORDERS are IDENTICAL --- it's that the IMMUNE SYSTEM (INNATE and/or ADAPTIVE IMMUNITY) are involved in seemingly MOST if not all COGNITIVE DISABILITIES.

Three Big Take Aways

Cognitive and Social Abilities Rely on Fine-Tuned Equilibrium of Innate & Adaptive Immune Responses (2019)
Innate Immune Cells are Regulators of Brain Development & Behavioral Function (2018)
The Vagus Nerve serves as Modulator of the Brain-Gut Axis in Psychiatric and Inflammatory Disorders. (2018)

Click Here

***Physical Health, the Immune System & Mental Health

Immunotherapies in Huntington's disease and α-Synucleinopathies
(2020)

Affiliations

1Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
2WPI -Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
3Department of Neuro-Medical Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.

Abstract

Modulation of immune activation using immunotherapy has attracted considerable attention for many years as a potential therapeutic intervention for several inflammation-associated neurodegenerative diseases.

However, the efficacy of single-target immunotherapy intervention has shown limited or no efficacy in alleviating disease burden and restoring functional capacity.

Marked immune system activation and neuroinflammation are important features and prodromal signs in polyQ repeat disorders and α-synucleinopathies.

This review describes the current status and future directions of immunotherapies in proteinopathy-induced neurodegeneration with emphasis on preclinical and clinical efficacies of several anti-inflammatory compounds and antibody-based therapies for the treatment of Huntington's disease and α-synucleinopathies.

The review concludes with how disease modification and functional restoration could be achieved by using targeted multimodality therapy to target multiple factors.

DRAFT: Innate & Adaptive Immunity in Cognitive Disorders

The 4th of July

7/7/2021

America's Justice System is in 2021 more a Cautionary Tale than a Beacon to the Rest of the World.

A Public Health Approach to Criminal Justice could put us ON TOP AGAIN.

Public Health Education is most DRAMATICALLY needed at the professional level.
We've got RESEARCHERS running far ahead of PROFESSIONALS.
One of the PROBLEMS is that most of the RESEARCH is at the level of NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS BASED ON EMPIRICAL RESEARCH--- not yet for the most part at NEW TREATMENTS.
So I "think" the IDEA is --- AS SOON AS WE GET THOSE NEW TREATMENTS --- we'll let you know.

If we were dealing with just any other ailments outside of COGNITIVE DISABILITY and its PREDOMINANCE in CRIMINAL JUSTICE ---- maybe that STRATEGY would be acceptable.

BUT CONCEPTUALIZATIONS MATTER and they MATTER A HELLUVA LOT IN THE LAW.

We need those TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH, MEDICINE & LEGAL EFFORTS --- Stepped Up In a BIG WAY.

Our concerns are not limited to "Mental Illness," but also include Brain Injury, Substance Issues and Developmental Disabilities.

The RESEARCH we're relying on does show an IMMUNE SYSTEM CONNECTION with all of those COGNITIVE DISABILITIES.

EXPANDING OUR VIEW OF WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE IMMUNE SYSTEM & PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS

7/6/2021

Below is a view of "STRESS" and its relationship to psychiatric disorders through a lens of psychoneuroendocrineimmunology ---- so this is involving more bodily systems than the brain and the Central Nervous System (CNS)
We do associate "TRAUMA" with psychiatric disorders, and I don't think that ASSOCIATION is WRONG.
BUT IN ADDITION to that we've got this whole slew of categories such as PSORIASIS, EXCEMA, CELIAC DISEASE, CEREBRAL PALSY and other IMMUNE DISORDERS also involve greater incidence of PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS.
Further, we've got research findings that the IMMUNE SYSTEM IS CONTROLLING SOCIAL BEHAVIOR in MICE.
- Say What?
- Yeah, Star Researcher Jonathan Kipnis while at the University of Virginia Medical School and his team found the IMMUNE SYSTEM controlled SOCIAL BEHAVIOR in mice.

-Stress and the psyche-brain-immune network in psychiatric diseases based on psychoneuroendocrineimmunology: a concise review (2018)

Affiliations
1Dipartimento di Scienze e Biotecnologie Medico-Chirurgiche, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Internal Medicine Unit, ICOT Hospital, Latina, Italy.
2Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica, Università degli Studi dell'Aquila, Sanita Pubblica Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, L'Aquila, Italy.
3Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy.

Abstract

In the last decades, psychoneuroendocrineimmunology research has made relevant contributions to the fields of neuroscience, psychobiology, epigenetics, molecular biology, and clinical research by studying the effect of stress on human health and highlighting the close interrelations between psyche, brain, and bodily systems.

It is now well recognized that chronic stress can alter the physiological cross-talk between brain and biological systems, leading to long-lasting maladaptive effects (allostatic overload) on the nervous, immune, endocrine, and metabolic systems, which compromises stress resiliency and health.

Stressful conditions in early life have been associated with profound alterations in cortical and subcortical brain regions involved in emotion regulation and the salience network, showing relevant overlap with different psychiatric conditions.

This paper provides a summary of the available literature concerning the notable effects of stress on the brain and immune system.

We highlight the role of epigenetics as a mechanistic pathway mediating the influences of the social and physical environment on brain structure and connectivity, the immune system, and psycho-physical health in psychiatric diseases.

We also summarize the evidence regarding the effects of stress management techniques (mainly psychotherapy and meditation practice) on clinical outcomes, brain neurocircuitry, and immune-inflammatory network in major psychiatric diseases.

Shocking New Role Found for the Immune System: Controlling Social Interactions ----University of Virginia School of Medicine (2016)

Hang on to your seats --- because the RATIONALE for this that Kipnis and other researchers came up with had to do with ---- AN ANCIENT BATTLE OF PATHOGENS & the IMMUNE SYSTEM.

"In a startling discovery that raises fundamental questions about human behavior, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the immune system directly affects – and even controls – creatures’ social behavior, such as their desire to interact with others.

"So could immune system problems contribute to an inability to have normal social interactions? The answer appears to be yes, and that finding could have great implications for neurological diseases such as autism-spectrum disorders and schizophrenia.

“The brain and the adaptive immune system were thought to be isolated from each other, and any immune activity in the brain was perceived as sign of a pathology.

"And now, not only are we showing that they are closely interacting, but some of our behavior traits might have evolved because of our immune response to pathogens,” explained Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, chairman of UVA’s Department of Neuroscience.

“It’s crazy, but maybe we are just multicellular battlefields for two ancient forces: pathogens and the immune system. Part of our personality may actually be dictated by the immune system.”

Quotation from University of Virginia's YouTube Summary

***Physical Health Issues, the Immune System & Mental Health

SciShow Psych & Medscape: the Immune System Connection to Psychiatric Disorders AnD the Mainstream

7/6/2021

To the Right: SciShow Psych's "Autoimmunity & Mental Health" and Medscape's "Immunodeficiency Strongly Linked to Mental Illness, Suicidal Behavior."

What's the Point?: The Immune System Connection to Psychiatric Disorders is slowly making its way to the mainstream.

One of the challenges has been that the IMMUNE SYSTEM seems to be involved in SOCIAL BEHAVIOR in ways we had not previously conceived prior to the last decade.

Beyond that other NOVEL ROLES for the IMMUNE SYSTEM are being found.

What We'd Like To See?: Additional Federal Funding of the National Institutes of Health and the Nation's Research and Teaching Hospitals to provide more CURRENT TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE AND UNDERSTANDINGS to CLINICIANS.

Those UNDERSTANDINGS themselves are important to address STIGMA and the complicated role of DEVELOPMENTAL IMMUNE/MENTAL DISORDERS in the Criminal Justice System.

May 2021

Immunodeficiency Strongly Linked to Mental Illness, Suicidal Behavior (2020)

"Patients with a primary humoral immunodeficiency (PID) are 91% more likely to have a psychiatric disorder and 84% more likely to exhibit suicidal behavior, compared against those without the condition, new research shows.

"Results showed that this association, which was stronger in women, could not be fully explained by comorbid autoimmune diseases or by familial confounding."

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