Orchid Advocacy
  • Home
    • About Orchid >
      • Why Orchid?
      • ORCHID'S SYSTEMIC FOCUS & "ROOT CAUSE" ANALYSIS APPROACH TO PROBLEM SOLVING WITH A COMMITMENT TO CREATIVITY & INNOVATION
      • Disclaimers, Limitations and An Invitation
      • Orchid Board
      • Orchid Book Club
      • Conjecture, Science & Translational Research & Medicine
      • Orchid Themes & Symbols
      • The Tipping Point
      • Orchid's Website Advertising Policy
      • Statement for Potential Website Contributors
      • Contact
  • Blogs
    • Val's Blog
    • Val's Blog 2
    • ​TRANSLATIONAL/ ​TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE MONDAY
    • NEURO-DIVERSITY Wednesday
    • Olmstead Law & Order Thursday
    • Translational Medicine Friday
    • Translational Love, Relationships & Neuro-Diversity Saturday
  • Orchid's A-Z Index
    • Crisis Services in CO, the US & Around the World
    • Assertive Community Treatment & Flexible ACT Index
    • Housing & Homelessness Index
    • Criminal Justice
    • Innovation Index
    • For More: See the Main Orchid Index Page
  • US Federal
    • THE IMD RULE & ADMIN. ENFORCEMENT OF DISABILITY CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS
    • Medicaid & Supportive Housing & Housing-Related Services
    • CMS' FAILURE TO COVER HOUSING FOR LTC & THE IMD RULE: WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON IS DISCRIMINATION
    • National Take
  • Research & Translational Medicine
    • Immunology & Mental Health >
      • Alcoholism & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Brain Injury, the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Celiac Disease & Sensitivities, the Immune System & Mental Illness
      • Mental Illness & The Immune System
      • Racial Discrimination & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Trauma & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • ***Physical Health Issues, the Immune System & Mental Health Index
    • University of Chicago: Institute of Translational Medicine
  • Hot Topics
    • What We Want --- SAMHSA Grant Opportunities Due Jan. 22, 2019
    • Anti-Social Personality Disorder >
      • DECONSTRUCTING ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER AND PSYCHOPATHY: A GUIDELINES-BASED APPROACH TO PREJUDICIAL PSYCHIATRIC LABELS [Hofstra Law Review 2013]
      • Personality Disorders -- Unscientific & Vague -- Must Be Reformed
    • Executive Functioning & "Prison Brain" >
      • Job Accommodation Network on Executive Functioning Deficits
    • Medicaid & Medicare Network Adequacy >
      • OIG: STATE STANDARDS FOR ACCESS TO CARE IN MEDICAID MANAGED CARE (Sept. 2014)
      • OIG: ACCESS TO CARE: PROVIDER AVAILABILITY IN MEDICAID MANAGED CARE (Dec. 2014)
      • GAO 15-710: MEDICARE ADVANTAGE: Actions Needed to Enhance CMS Oversight of Provider Network Adequacy (Aug. 2015)
      • CMS: Promoting Access in Medicaid and CHIP Managed Care: A Toolkit for Ensuring Provider Network Adequacy and Service Availability (April 2017)
    • Medicaid Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder Parity >
      • CMS Parity Compliance Toolkit Applying Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Requirements to Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs [Jan. 17, 2017]
      • Frequently Asked Questions: Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Final Rule for Medicaid and CHIP [CMS October 11, 2017]
    • Olmstead Disability Rights >
      • Statement of the Department of Justice on Enforcement of the Integration Mandate of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead v. L.C. (2011)
      • Comprehensive Olmstead Planning
      • the Logical Long Term Consequences of our failure to provide Intensive Community MH Treatment
      • Olmstead Nation ---State Pages: How Far to Comply with Olmstead?
  • Take A Walk Around Orchid's Resource Block
  • Colorado Abuse & Neglect Scandals Involving People with Disabilities
  • Mental Health By The Numbers
  • New Science Is Amazing AND It Has HUGE Moral Implications for Our Society: NOW
  • Olmstead & Homelessness
  • Double V
  • " 'Defund the Police" Means 'Invest in the Resources Our Communities Need' " or Don't Cost Shift to the Police
  • VAGUE OLMSTEAD PLANS, EXPENSIVE LITIGATION
  • Updating & Reforming our Understanding & Treatment of "Anti-Social Personality Disorder" Blog
  • Reform of " Anti-Social Personality Disorder" in Criminal Justice
  • CO HB22-1278
  • New Understandings Matter
  • Mental Health, Ethics & Law
  • CO Olmstead Disability Homeless Law & Policy Project
  • Inflammation, the Immune System, Neuro-Developmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Substance Use Issues & Chronic Disease
  • Microglia and the Brain's Immune System
  • Substance Issues & the Immune System

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
Picture
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

 
Picture
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

 
Picture
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.

Picture
Wilma Mankiller --- 1st Female Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Picture
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 …
Picture
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 …
Picture
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.
Picture
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.
Picture
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.
Picture
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.
Picture
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.
Picture
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

 
Picture
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.
Picture
Pope Francis
Last Scene of The Grapes of Wrath (1940) based on the 1939 pulitizer prize winning book by John Steinbeck
Picture
Image Credit: safetymattersinc.org
Picture

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

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

Picture
JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)

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

Picture
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."

Picture

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

Picture
What Would Happen If Everyone Truly Believed Everything Is One?

Waiting for Godot & Science

10/25/2022

 
If Samuel Beckett felt like he was "WAITING for GODOT" ---I feel like I'm waiting for "SCIENCE" to give the SOCIETY the GREEN LIGHT to:
  • Recognize that "DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES" are a MIXED BAG on all sides.
  • Recognize DOUBLE EMPATHY PROBLEMS and that EMPATHY is EFFORT.
  • NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION and SENSORY PROCESSING ISSUES are HIGHLY INDIVIDUAL and we're MISSING a lot of Folks because they didn't fit neatly into categories that aren't TRULY FUNDAMENTAL CATEGORIES.
    • Even as there are serious issues that need to be addressed and
    • At least SOME of the BIOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS are ALREADY THERE IN THE RESEARCH, but not necessarily to the CLINICIAN, and certainly not to the PATIENT or the broader SOCIETY.
Samuel Beckett
Waiting for Godot

I'm Waiting for Science and it feels frustratingly similar.

Lateral Thinking & Conspiracy Theories

9/30/2022

 

Conspiracy Theories, Paranoia, Delusional Disorders have abounded throughout HISTORY AND they are often LATCHING ONTO UNDERLYING CONCERNS in the Society.


The CONCERNS CHANGE --- when was the last time you heard someone say "CARTHAGE MUST BE DESTROYED" ? [Of course, Carthage was destroyed in 146 B.C.]

Some of our current CONSPIRACY THEORIES are NUTS --- but they are grounded in TROUBLING REAL LIFE PROBLEMS that have as of yet not been amenable to easy resolution.

I'm going to pick on the Q-ANON folks but there are others including ANTI-VAXERS, ANTI-LGBTQA+, etc.
  • The positions are often EXTREME and RIDICULOUS --- BUT what the conspiracy theories or delusions are often reflecting is a KIND OF UNCERTAINTY within the Society. 
Picture
Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN)
Most of us may know that Hillary Clinton didn't sexually abuse anybody at a pizza parlor ---
  • BUT there is a problem of sexual abuse of children in this country and other countries and we don't have a good handle on it.
Picture
Carthage Must Be Destroyed
Picture
Image Credit: 
The Medical Concierge Group

Researchers seem adamant that vaccinations don't cause AUTISM ---BUT researchers have been until more recently quite fuzzy as to what did cause AUTISM --- and even now there are still questions.
Picture
Why detransitioners are crucial to the science of gender care
LGBTQA+ --- TRANS issues have dominated public discussion the last 10 years --- The Florida Legislature has jumped on the CRAZY TRAIN. ---
  • BUT how open is the discussion in the SOCIETY and do we need to do both more public education & research?
  • It's one thing to say consenting adults should be able to have sex with whoever they want ---
    • It's another thing to talk about major biological changes to minors when the rate of Success on TRANSITIONING is not 100%.
I think it may very well be true that once these issues are resolved conspiracy-theorists may move on to something else --- and that is not necessarily a bad thing. 

It's a alerting us that we have MORE WORK TO DO --- even if we might frame it differently.
<<Previous

    VAL'S BLOG 2
    ​
    Val Corzine

    Executive Director of Orchid Mental Health Legal Advocacy of Colorado, Inc.

    Archives

    March 2025
    April 2024
    December 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021

    Categories

    All
    4th Of July
    9 News Denver
    Accommodations
    Adaptive Immunity
    Adulthood
    Advanced Societies
    Alice Merton
    American Psychiatric Association
    American Psychiatric Association Foundation
    Amy Smith
    Annals Of The New York Academy Of Sciences
    Anti-Social Personality Disorder
    Art
    Atonement
    Autoimmunity & Mental Health
    Baylor College Of Medicine
    BBC Health Reporter James Gallagher
    BBC's "The Inflamed Mind"
    BeCOME Study -- Biological Classification Of Mental Disorders
    Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital
    Biological Based Mental Illness Vs. Non Biological Mental Illness
    Biological-Based Mental Illness Vs. Non-Biological Mental Illness
    Biological Basis Of Behavior
    Biological Consequences
    Biological Risk Factors For Involvement In Crime
    Bipolar Disorder
    BMC Psychiatry
    Boundaries
    Brain
    Cautionary Tale
    Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
    Childhood
    Cloak Of Rationality
    CMS' 2015 Housing Related Guidance
    Cognitive Disabilities
    College Of Pharmacy
    Conventional Therapy
    Criminal Justice
    Criminal Justice Population
    Criminal Justice System
    Criminal Law
    CRISIS OF CARE
    C-Stat
    Data Collection
    Definitional Argument
    Developmental Differences
    Dipartimento Di Scienze E Biotecnologie Medico-Chirurgiche
    DSM 5
    Einstein
    Emory University School Of Medicine
    Employment
    Endocrine System
    Environment
    Environmental Factors
    Environmental Toxins
    Epigenetics
    Ethics
    Executive Functioning Differences
    Experience
    Experts
    Faith
    False Dichotomy
    Finding Work Arounds For Weaknesses
    Finding Work-Arounds For Weaknesses
    "Foolish Consistency"
    Frontiers In Immunology
    Grapes Of Wrrath
    Gut-Immune-Brain Triad
    Half-Right Ideas
    Harvard Medical School
    Hierarchy
    Housing
    Human Sacrifice
    Human Treatmnt
    Huntington's Disease
    ICOT Hospital
    Identifying Strengths
    Immune-Inflammatory Network
    Immune System
    Immunodeficiency
    Immunology
    Immunotherapies
    Importance Of Conceptualizations
    Innate Immunity
    Internal Medicine Unit
    Italy
    Jails & Prisons
    Johann Hari
    John Ford
    John Kenneth Galbraith
    John Steinbeck
    Justice Center For The Council Of State Governments
    Justice-Involved People
    Karen Armstrong
    Kendrick Lamar
    King's College London Professor Of Biological Psychiatry --- Carmine Pariante
    Latina
    Law Enforcement
    Lay People
    Leonardo Da Vinci
    Mainstream
    Maria Bamford
    Maternal Immune Activation
    Max Planck Institute Of Psychiatry (Germany)
    Meanwhile
    Medicaid Managed Care
    Medscape
    Mental Health Profession
    Meritocracy
    Metabolism
    Molecular Targets
    Moral Disgust
    Multiple Systems Of The Body
    National Institute Of Mental Health (NIMH)
    Neuro Developmental Disorders/Differences
    Neuro-Developmental Disorders/Differences
    Neuro-Developmental Inflammation
    Neuro-Inflammatory Biomarkers
    Neuroscience
    Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio
    New World
    New York Times
    New Zealand Ministry Of Justice
    No Roots
    OCD
    Olmstead
    Olmstead Plan
    Osaka University School Of Medicine (Japan)
    Pain
    Painful Thinking
    Paradigm Shift
    Pathogens
    PBS/ "Mysteries Of Mental Illness"
    Pearl Of Great Price
    Phillip Phillips Home
    Philosophy
    Pope Francis
    Prof. Footy
    Progress In Molecular Biology And Translational Science
    Pro Life
    Prone Restraint
    Pro Social Competency Religion
    Psychiatric Disorders
    Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology
    Public Health Approach To Criminal Justice
    Punishment
    Racisim In Psychiatry
    Ralph Waldo Emerson
    Rap Music
    Religion
    Research
    Researcher Jonathan Kipnis
    Robert Sapolsky
    Safety
    Scapegoating
    Schizophrenia As A Developmental Neurocognitive Disorder
    Science
    SciShow
    SciShow Psych
    Social Animals
    Social Behavior
    Socrates
    Spike Lee
    Stepping Up Initiative
    Strength-Based Approach
    Strengths
    Stress
    Substance Use Treatmnts
    Suicidal Behavior
    Supportive Housing
    Swearing
    Temple Grandin
    The Center For Evidence-Based Crime Policy At George Mason University
    The Denver Gazette
    Thomas Insel
    Tolstoy
    Tonic On Demand Bipolar Disorder
    Trace Adkins Wayfaring Stranger
    Translational Criminal Justice
    Translational Research
    Translational Research & Medicine
    Trauma
    Traumatic Brain Injury
    Treatment Resistant
    Tribes
    Trusted Messengers
    Unconcious Bias
    Università Degli Studi Di Roma La Sapienza
    University Of Houston
    University Of Pennsylvania --- Biological Basis For Behavior Program
    University Of Virginia School Of Medicine
    US Dept. Of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
    US Dept. Of Justice (DOJ)
    Vaccines
    Weaknesses
    Woody Guthrie
    YouTube
    ZE Presenters

    RSS Feed


Orchid:  Email

Crisis Services in Colorado, the US & Around the World

​Copyright 2025  Orchid Mental Health Legal Advocacy of Colorado, Inc.
Web Hosting by iPage
  • Home
    • About Orchid >
      • Why Orchid?
      • ORCHID'S SYSTEMIC FOCUS & "ROOT CAUSE" ANALYSIS APPROACH TO PROBLEM SOLVING WITH A COMMITMENT TO CREATIVITY & INNOVATION
      • Disclaimers, Limitations and An Invitation
      • Orchid Board
      • Orchid Book Club
      • Conjecture, Science & Translational Research & Medicine
      • Orchid Themes & Symbols
      • The Tipping Point
      • Orchid's Website Advertising Policy
      • Statement for Potential Website Contributors
      • Contact
  • Blogs
    • Val's Blog
    • Val's Blog 2
    • ​TRANSLATIONAL/ ​TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE MONDAY
    • NEURO-DIVERSITY Wednesday
    • Olmstead Law & Order Thursday
    • Translational Medicine Friday
    • Translational Love, Relationships & Neuro-Diversity Saturday
  • Orchid's A-Z Index
    • Crisis Services in CO, the US & Around the World
    • Assertive Community Treatment & Flexible ACT Index
    • Housing & Homelessness Index
    • Criminal Justice
    • Innovation Index
    • For More: See the Main Orchid Index Page
  • US Federal
    • THE IMD RULE & ADMIN. ENFORCEMENT OF DISABILITY CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS
    • Medicaid & Supportive Housing & Housing-Related Services
    • CMS' FAILURE TO COVER HOUSING FOR LTC & THE IMD RULE: WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON IS DISCRIMINATION
    • National Take
  • Research & Translational Medicine
    • Immunology & Mental Health >
      • Alcoholism & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Brain Injury, the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Celiac Disease & Sensitivities, the Immune System & Mental Illness
      • Mental Illness & The Immune System
      • Racial Discrimination & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Trauma & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • ***Physical Health Issues, the Immune System & Mental Health Index
    • University of Chicago: Institute of Translational Medicine
  • Hot Topics
    • What We Want --- SAMHSA Grant Opportunities Due Jan. 22, 2019
    • Anti-Social Personality Disorder >
      • DECONSTRUCTING ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER AND PSYCHOPATHY: A GUIDELINES-BASED APPROACH TO PREJUDICIAL PSYCHIATRIC LABELS [Hofstra Law Review 2013]
      • Personality Disorders -- Unscientific & Vague -- Must Be Reformed
    • Executive Functioning & "Prison Brain" >
      • Job Accommodation Network on Executive Functioning Deficits
    • Medicaid & Medicare Network Adequacy >
      • OIG: STATE STANDARDS FOR ACCESS TO CARE IN MEDICAID MANAGED CARE (Sept. 2014)
      • OIG: ACCESS TO CARE: PROVIDER AVAILABILITY IN MEDICAID MANAGED CARE (Dec. 2014)
      • GAO 15-710: MEDICARE ADVANTAGE: Actions Needed to Enhance CMS Oversight of Provider Network Adequacy (Aug. 2015)
      • CMS: Promoting Access in Medicaid and CHIP Managed Care: A Toolkit for Ensuring Provider Network Adequacy and Service Availability (April 2017)
    • Medicaid Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder Parity >
      • CMS Parity Compliance Toolkit Applying Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Requirements to Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs [Jan. 17, 2017]
      • Frequently Asked Questions: Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Final Rule for Medicaid and CHIP [CMS October 11, 2017]
    • Olmstead Disability Rights >
      • Statement of the Department of Justice on Enforcement of the Integration Mandate of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead v. L.C. (2011)
      • Comprehensive Olmstead Planning
      • the Logical Long Term Consequences of our failure to provide Intensive Community MH Treatment
      • Olmstead Nation ---State Pages: How Far to Comply with Olmstead?
  • Take A Walk Around Orchid's Resource Block
  • Colorado Abuse & Neglect Scandals Involving People with Disabilities
  • Mental Health By The Numbers
  • New Science Is Amazing AND It Has HUGE Moral Implications for Our Society: NOW
  • Olmstead & Homelessness
  • Double V
  • " 'Defund the Police" Means 'Invest in the Resources Our Communities Need' " or Don't Cost Shift to the Police
  • VAGUE OLMSTEAD PLANS, EXPENSIVE LITIGATION
  • Updating & Reforming our Understanding & Treatment of "Anti-Social Personality Disorder" Blog
  • Reform of " Anti-Social Personality Disorder" in Criminal Justice
  • CO HB22-1278
  • New Understandings Matter
  • Mental Health, Ethics & Law
  • CO Olmstead Disability Homeless Law & Policy Project
  • Inflammation, the Immune System, Neuro-Developmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Substance Use Issues & Chronic Disease
  • Microglia and the Brain's Immune System
  • Substance Issues & the Immune System