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Colter Wall's "Sleeping on the Blacktop" ---When our Society FAILS Us or the People We Care About ----- It is a Spiritual Crisis

9/9/2021

Corn liquor tastes sweeter in this town
Could it be it's the same as the last?
I swear I've seen ya face elsewhere before
Just as familiar as a bottle and a glass

Lyrics

Hey darlin'!
Sleeping on the blacktop
Hey darlin'!
Running through the trees honey
Hey darlin'!
Leaving for the next town
Less'n my sense catches up with me

Colter Wall paints a PICTURE of Homelessness

The Dangers INHERENT in homelessness (See Colorado's own HORROR STORIES)
The UBIQUITY of Homelessness from one town to another --- that is often true in Colorado.

Wall also paints a picture of HIMSELF --- the NARRATOR

Feeling Morally Obligated to Help
BUT having his own problems and limitations
Choosing to Help (for the moment) even as he appreciates the daunting odds

Mindful Divergence (Aug. 2021)
Homelessness in Autism Spectrum Disorder --- Why it is So Prevalent

I think as a Society we do appreciate that "Mental Illness" and "Substance Problems" are big drivers of HOMELESSNESS.

What we're just beginning to appreciate is that NEURO-DIVERSITY is a big driver of "MENTAL ILLNESS," "Substance Problems" and sometimes HOMELESSNESS.

What's needed is SUPPORTIVE HOUSING, but we also must have SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT and SUPPORTED ENTREPENEURSHIP,

Two Dynamics: Abilities and a Hierarchical Society

9/8/2021

Abilities

ABOVE AVERAGE: A lot of neuro-diverse people have abilities in one or more areas that are ABOVE AVERAGE.
- We can't just cram these people into menial labor and think it is all going to work out.
- Certainly Australia labor data showed that JOBS need to fit the person --- otherwise it is going to DAMAGE their MENTAL HEALTH.

I think there is a real relationship between INFORMATION PROCESSING and EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING ISSUES. My experience is that if you can ACCOMMODATE / WORK WITH some of those INFORMATION and SENSORY PROCESSING ISSUES ----- Emotional Regulation will likely be improved and other areas as well.

It is important to recognize that the person is often just more BIOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE to the ENVIRONMENT --- whether the PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT and/ or the SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT.

THAT IS NOT WHAT WE THINK. We think the problem is the PERSON IS NOT SENSITIVE --- from my perspective, it is the person's heightened sensitivity to stimuli that is OVERWHELMING THE PERSON and sometimes those around the person.

BELOW AVERAGE or DIFFERENT EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING

Hobbs Consultancy

HILDA: Household Income & Labor Dynamics in Australia

The psychosocial quality of work determines whether employment has benefits for mental health: results from a longitudinal national household panel survey

Image Credit: Wikipedia

HIERARCHICAL SOCIETIES: My Strengths are Better than Your Strengths, and my Weaknesses Don't Matter --- Your Weaknesses do Matter and I don't Understand Your Strengths

Colorado Needs a Supportive Housing Plan for People with Physical and Cognitive Disabilities

9/5/2021

Alaska is on the right track.

In April 2014, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), its Division of Behavioral Health (DBH), and the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (the Trust) formally embarked on a statewide strategic supportive housing planning process.

The purpose of the process was to develop a three-year action plan that would enable Alaska to achieve the following objectives:

1. Maximize the development of integrated, affordable, lease-based permanent supportive housing (PSH) for Alaskans with serious behavioral health conditions served by DHSS and the Trust.

2. Identify, develop, and implement the services that individuals need to succeed in PSH.

3. Coordinate efforts among state and partner agencies working to develop and ensure access to PSH.

4. Leverage additional federal financial participation through modifications to state Medicaid services.

DBH and the Trust contracted with the Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. (TAC), a national non-profit consulting and technical assistance firm and recognized leader at the intersection of affordable housing, health care, and human services policy and systems to facilitate the planning process and develop strategic goals for these partnering state agencies to implement.

Nothing is related: bodily System Edition

8/31/2021

"NOTHING IS RELATED"

What is A Tribe Called Red up to in this video:
- While there are indigenous vocalizations --- we don't see "indigenous" people in the video
- The main characters are Black and seemingly Arab.

The Song

A Tribe Called Red (now known as The Halluci Nation) is a Indigenous Music Group in Canada --- they are not neuroscientists.

BUT I think the song R.E.D. is about getting EVERYONE into the SAME HUMAN TRIBE and into the same "IN GROUP."

For The Halluci Nation that is being done for SACRED REASONS.

The Law: "Nothing is Related" --- Some of the MOST RELEVANT FACTS are routinely deemed "IRRELEVANT"

Whether TRAUMA or a Brain Injury --- people are used to Courts deeming those things "IRRELEVANT" to the disposition of a criminal case.

BUT what is often driving those MYOPIC LEGAL DECISIONS is:

UNCONSCIOUS BIAS FOR the negative impacts of our COMPLEX, HIERARCHICAL SOCIAL ORDER, and

STATE FAILURE to provide INTENSIVE SERVICES including Supported Employment , HOUSING & PLACEMENTS at the SCALE NEEDED for Justice Involved People.

People have latched onto the "HEART" or the "HUMORS" or the "BRAIN" as the bodily answer to it all for a long, long time.

It doesn't appear in 2021, that we can understand COGNITIVE DISABILITY / DIFFERENCE without understanding not only the BRAIN, but other SYSTEMS of the BODY as well.

Much focus is on the IMMUNE SYSTEM, but researchers are also investigating the ENDROCRINE SYSTEM, the MICROBIOME and METABOLISM and their INTER-RELATIONSHIPS with THEMSELVES and the BRAIN.

Intent is relevant --- but not for punishment -- for dangerousness

8/26/2021

Right now: Proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt is running headlong into some outdated COMPETENCY & INSANITY STATUTES.

While most people INTENDED THE CRIME --- Most People who COMMIT CRIMES have:

A Brain Injury, and/or
Substance Issues, and/or
Mental Illness, and/or
Developmental Disabilities

that are greatly mediated by INNATE & ADAPTIVE INFLAMMATION affecting the Brain.

"INTENT" is RELEVANT ---- but not for "PUNISHMENT" --- On the other hand, "INTENT" often can indicate "DANGEROUSNESS" or at least be RELEVANT EVIDENCE of that.

If "BAD INTENT" is often the result of a COGNITIVE DISABILITY, we don't need to PUNISH the COGNITIVE DISABILITY --- we need to TREAT the UNDERLYING HEALTH ISSUE/ COGNITIVE DISABILITY which probably involves INNATE & ADAPTIVE IMMUNITY as well the BRAIN and other SYSTEMS OF the BODY.

If we don't have great treatments, we provide whatever level and duration of HUMANE SUPERVISION necessary to protect the public.

That looks very much like Civil Commitment or Outpatient Certification --- BUT just like traditional MENTAL HEALTH CERTIFICATION --- it is INEFFECTIVE if we don't provide the Supportive Housing, Intensive Services and/or Placements needed.

Science & Research Hot Topics

3 Big Takeaways from the Research

The Immune System, Physical Health Issues & Mental Health Issues

CRAP Justice & Crap Services --- They Often Go Together ---- Revisited

8/17/2021

19-year-old Colorado young man with mental health and addiction problems sentenced to 3 years (7 credited) in Prison for Property Crimes.

See the 1st Edition ---
Crap Justice & Crap Services --- They Often Go Together

Aloysius from Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited"

Radboud University --- Netherlands

"Brideshead Castle represents English heritage, tradition, and Catholicism."

Sebastian & Aloysius

Sebastian is "immature," alcoholic and his family is fabulously wealthy.

Sebastian continues to falter and his sister predicts he will soon die from alcoholism.

I will just say --- if you have seen that --- it is something you will not forget.

On the other hand, people who are neuro-diverse often have abilities or talents that neurotypicals don't have.

The SIGNIFICANT & SUBSTANTIAL RISK for individuals if the SOCIETY recognizes the BIOLOGICAL BASIS of BEHAVIOR --- not in a handful of cases but across the board--- is EUGENICS.

For the SOCIETY, people must have safety.

Now, not everyone who is neuro-diverse is JUSTICE-INVOLVED --- but thousands of people with ADHD, Brain Injury, Mental Illness, Autism and Substance Issues are Justice-Involved.

What Are You Good At?

Clinical Psychologist Tayyab Rashid at TEDxUTSC --
University of Toronto at Scarborough

"Nobody has it all, Nobody lacks it all"

So on the one hand, we're OUTRAGED that the Housing, Intensive Services and Placements are not available to prevent imprisonment of a 19-year-old with mental health and substance issues.

On the other hand, the COMMITMENT we need to make to one another is not an arbitrary term of years --- it's a LIFETIME COMMITMENT to provide SUPPORT when needed.

Strengths-Based Approach

The incomplete science of lobatomies and current DSM 5 Personality Disorders

8/16/2021

What I'm saying is the INCOMPLETE SCIENCE of LABOTOMIES is in some respects ANALOGOUS to the INCOMPLETE SCIENCE that has led to the NIGHTMARE resulting from combining "ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER DIAGNOSIS" with Ancient IDEAS of MENS REA / Criminal Intent and OUT-DATED COMPETENCY & INSANITY STATUTES.

Australia is THINKING about Civil Commitment for "Anti-Social Personality Disorder" and some researchers are seeing ASPD as a developmental disability.

I think what societies will find is if they INVEST MUCH MORE in DEVELOPING NATURAL STRENGTHS and EMPLOYING MORE NATURAL STRENGTHS and WORK-AROUNDS for EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DIFFERENCES, especially at the TOPS and BOTTOMS of their SOCIETIES ---- a lot of our SOCIAL DISCORD will CALM DOWN.

Neuroscientist Antonio Damascio: "The Brain is the Servant of the Body"

University of Virginia School of Medicine: the Immune System Controls Social Behavior

About 50,000 people received lobotomies in the United States, most of them between 1949 and 1952. About 10,000 of these procedures were transorbital lobotomies. The rest were mostly prefrontal lobotomies. Walter Freeman performed about 3,500 lobotomies during his career, of which 2,500 were his “ice pick” procedure.

My Lobotomy – StoryCorpshttps://storycorps.org › stories › my-lobotomy

RECONCILING SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS WITH BIOLOGY.

This is author Johann Hari on TRIBES ---- we're NOT SOLITARY ANIMALS.

Hari is using examples to show the importance of ENVIRONMENT.

Wouldn't it be IMPORTANT for our BODIES to MONITOR & REACT to that Social Environment?

Our IMMUNE SYSTEMS seem to be responding to / reacting to not only PATHIGENS but also the Social Environment.

BRAIN INJURY: The Emerging Cognitive Disability in US Criminal Justice & Globally?

8/12/2021

Val's Take

When we think of cognitive disability in Criminal Justice we often think of MENTAL ILLNESS and often some type of PSYCHOSIS.
Later we started looking at DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY and LOW IQ, and more recently we've come back to MENTAL ILLNESS.

Denver, Australia, the UK are some of the places that are doing work on BRAIN INJURY in CRIMINAL JUSTICE and it appears to be OVERWHELMINGLY REPRESENTED in the Criminal Justice Population.

The Building Bridges project: Linking disconnected service networks in acquired brain injury and criminal justice (2020)

Affiliations

1Private practice, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
2Concept Psychology Services, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
3Brain Injury Rehabilitation Research Group, Ingham Institute of Applied Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
4John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

The Building Bridges project: Linking disconnected service networks in acquired brain injury and criminal justice (2020)

Affiliations

1Private practice, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
2Concept Psychology Services, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
3Brain Injury Rehabilitation Research Group, Ingham Institute of Applied Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
4John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.The Building Bridges project: Linking disconnected service networks in acquired brain injury and criminal justice (2020)

Affiliations

1Private practice, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
2Concept Psychology Services, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
3Brain Injury Rehabilitation Research Group, Ingham Institute of Applied Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
4John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

The surprising connection between brain injuries and crime | Dr. Kim Gorgens (University of Denver) -- 2019

"Here's a shocking statistic: 50 to 80 percent of people in the criminal justice system in the US have had a traumatic brain injury. In the general public, that number is less than five percent.

"Neuropsychologist Kim Gorgens shares her research into the connection between brain trauma and the behaviors that keep people in the revolving door of criminal justice -- and some ways to make the system more effective and safer for everyone."

People with more than one TBI have higher rates of criminality. Injury in childhood and young adulthood may be particularly associated with criminality.

Aggressive behaviour, temper outbursts and disinhibition increase with TBI. These problems relate to offending behaviour and inprisonment. Oct 3, 2019

Traumatic brain injury in the prison population - GOV.UKhttps://www.gov.uk › ... › Prisons and probation

How many people in prison have brain injuries?

In prisons, however, approximately 60 percent of adults have had at least one TBI—and even higher prevalence has been reported in some systems. These injuries, which can alter behavior, emotion and impulse control, can keep prisoners behind bars longer and increases the odds they will end up there again. Feb 4, 2012

Brain Injury Rate 7 Times Greater among U.S. Prisoners ...https://www.scientificamerican.com › article › traumatic-b...

Personality Types & Disorders ----ASTROLOGY for a Much More Complicated Reality

8/9/2021

I'm going to start with 2 articles referenced on our Personality Disorder page --- one from Psychiatric Times and the other from Oxford University Press.
Why DSM-III, IV, and 5 are Unscientific

Psychiatric Times
October 14, 2013
S. Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH

This article came out about the time that Former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health Thomas Insel publicly declared that the DSM 5 lacked scientific validity because it was not tied to the underlying biology of disorders.
It gives a crucial recent history of the development of personality disorders under the DSM and exposes the arbitrariness of much of this.

Personality disorders, the DSM, and the future of diagnosis

DECEMBER 2ND 2012
By Edward Shorter
Internationally Recognized
Historian of Psychiatry

The article by Shorter gives a longer history of PERSONALITY DISORDERS beyond the DSM to the early 19th Century -- Hysteria in women.

Shorter is riffing off an article by Ben Carey in the New York Times

Thinking Clearly About Personality
Disorders (2012)

I don't necessarily agree with the CONCLUSION Shorter is TENDING TOWARDS --- but for me what is important about this article is not just the HISTORY --- but that Shorter is recognizing the MISMATCH between Personality Disorders and Mental Health Disorders and its NOT MAKING SENSE ----
- "They wanted something clinically relevant and that also would sound vaguely like science (which psychoanalysis certainly didn’t). It will be interesting to see how the APA sorts this out. Personality disorders exist not as natural phenomena but as cultural phenomena: We as a society need some way of identifying people who can’t quite get it all together. But is this an illness that psychiatrists can treat? In the way that they treat schizophrenia with Zyprexa and depression with Prozac? What do we, as a society in 2012, do with people who can’t quite get it all together? I’m asking you."

In 2021, it is looking like both PERSONALITY DISORDERS and Bipolar Disorder, Depression and Schizophrenia are DEVELOPMENTAL --- and we are talking about the BRAIN --- but we're also talking about the IMMUNE SYSTEM, the MICROBIOME, the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM & METABOLISM.

We're also often talking about people who are ULTRA BIOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE or REACTIVE to their ENVIRONMENTS --- so in that sense it is partially a CULTURAL PHENOMENON.

With respect to TRAUMATIC EVENTS that IMPACT people's BIOLOGY, the more BIOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE one is the MORE IT COULD IMPACT ONE'S UNDERLYING BIOLOGY.

I "think" some of what happened in the Personality Disorder / Mental Health Disorder Dichotomy is that CLINICIANS were faced with patients who weren't psychotic, often had average or above average intelligence, and the MEDICATION DIDN'T WORK and the THERAPY OFTEN DIDN'T WORK.

Further, people WERE NOT fitting neatly into our ideas of "INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY" or "PHYSICAL DISABILITY."

Even though we've known for awhile now that most "MENTAL ILLNESS" is 80% genetic, and it is looking like a BIG CHUNK of that other 20% is EPIGENETIC, mental health professionals largely don't view themselves as providers to people with DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES.
- Where DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES show up for people with "MENTAL ILLNESS" / "PERSONALITY DISORDERS" is in EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING --- but it is IDIOSYNCRATIC --- NOT UNIFORM
- What is the MECHANISM to set this in motion --- it is often MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION.
- Maternal Immune Activation could go a long way in EXPLAINING why:
  - "MENTAL ILLNESS" / "PERSONALITY DISORDERS" are so IDIOSYNCRATIC
  - Why TWINS might have the same genes but they may vary just enough in their exposure to MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION -- that one develops a mental illness and the other doesn't.
  - Further, the one who develops a "mental illness" may be MORE REACTIVE to the ENVIRONMENT as the result of GENETICS, MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION and EPIGENETICS.

In 2021, it is looking like both PERSONALITY DISORDERS and Bipolar Disorder, Depression and Schizophrenia are DEVELOPMENTAL at least in part --- and we are talking about the BRAIN --- but we're also talking about the IMMUNE SYSTEM, the MICROBIOME, the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM & METABOLISM.

We're also often talking about people who are ULTRA BIOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE or REACTIVE to their ENVIRONMENTS --- so in that sense it is partially a CULTURAL PHENOMENON.

With respect to TRAUMATIC EVENTS that IMPACT people's BIOLOGY, the more BIOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE one is the MORE IT COULD IMPACT ONE'S UNDERLYING BIOLOGY.

I "think" some of what happened in the Personality Disorder / Mental Health Disorder Dichotomy is that CLINICIANS were faced with patients who weren't psychotic, often had average or above average intelligence, and the MEDICATION DIDN'T WORK and the THERAPY OFTEN DIDN'T WORK.

Further, people WERE NOT fitting neatly into our ideas of "INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY" or "PHYSICAL DISABILITY."

Even though we've known for awhile now that most "MENTAL ILLNESS" is 80% genetic, and it is looking like a BIG CHUNK of that other 20% is EPIGENETIC, mental health professionals largely don't view themselves as providers to people with DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES.
- Where DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES show up for people with "MENTAL ILLNESS" / "PERSONALITY DISORDERS" is in EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING --- but it is IDIOSYNCRATIC --- NOT UNIFORM
- What is the MECHANISM to set this in motion --- it is often MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION.
- Maternal Immune Activation could go a long way in EXPLAINING why:
  - "MENTAL ILLNESS" / "PERSONALITY DISORDERS" are so IDIOSYNCRATIC
  - Why TWINS might have the same genes but they may vary just enough in their exposure to MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION -- that one develops a mental illness and the other doesn't.
  - Further, the one who develops a "mental illness" may be MORE REACTIVE to the ENVIRONMENT as the result of GENETICS, MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION and EPIGENETICS.

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

Hair Analysis, Psychological Analysis & the Criminal Law --- The Ethical & Moral Imperative to Pull Back

2021 Olympics & Beyond: Athletes & bodybuilders changing public sentiment on mental health

8/9/2021

Michael Phelps hopes Simone Biles gives people an "eye-opening experience."

NBC 2021 Olympic Coverage:
[NBC is NOT sharing their Olympic Coverage on YouTube. Click Title or Picture above to go to video.]

What to me is so interesting about Phelps' comments is BOTH the request for SUPPORT and NOT TO TRY TO "FIX US."
Brandon Marshall briefly ticks off the various therapies he's been through including DBT (DIABLECTICAL BEHAVIOR THERAPY) which is based on the premise that the therapist needs to both ACCEPT the PERSON and TRY TO GET the PERSON to CHANGE.

When we think about Olympic Athletes we don't think INFLAMMATION --- but both Michael Phelps and Simone Biles have ADHD and Simone Biles has had profound TRAUMA in her life.

To me, INFLAMMATION is like FIRE in a number of senses --- one being that the question of whether it is good or bad really DEPENDS.

We don't have a perfect understanding about how to CONTROL FIRE -- but we've got a GOOD UNDERSTANDING.

I think for many people INFLAMMATION is bringing HEIGHTENED AWARENESS and REACTIVITY to the ENVIRONMENT, including Creative, Athletic and Intellectual GIFTS.

BUT if gets TOO MUCH --- you're in the REALM of Psychiatric & Inflammatory (IMMUNE) Disorders --- and nobody's really wanting that.

LIFESTYLE CHANGES are often a good idea, BUT if we're not recognizing the REALITY of the life course of significant DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION we can and are doing HARM.

We do need to acquire the POWER to MASTER OUR INFLAMMATION --- but doing that in the context of DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCE is COMPLEX and not fully appreciated by the Mental Health Profession.

Pro Body Builder, Cook Book Author and Go-Getter Greg Doucette in Defense of Simone Biles

Brandon Marshall in praise of Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka

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