Val's Blog

Downtown denver stabbings and systemic problems beyond "ACCESS"

1/21/2025

Val's Take/Conjecture

Nova's "Mysteries of Mental Illness" premiered in 2021 on PBS funded in part by the American Psychiatric Foundation.
One of the brave highlights of the program was at least briefly acknowledging that we need better understandings and better treatments.

I refer to the TRIFECTA of Neuro-Developmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders and Neuro-Degenerative Disorders.

Nursing Homes and Nursing Home Staff have noted for years that the ACUITY LEVEL is going up in Nursing Homes.
- Nursing Homes have a broad range of residents including people with Mental Illness and many people with Neuro-Degenerative Disorders.
Further, Aging Advocates and Gerontologists have warned that the Baby Boomers were going to overwhelm the Healthcare System in general and the Long Term Care System specifically.

What about Long Term Care for people with Neuro-Developmental and/or Psychiatric Disorders and an IQ over 70?

We have millions of people with Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric Disorders.
Do we have BIOMARKERS to determine who needs therapeutic custodial care and who doesn't?

Colorado state program facilitated release of suspect 2 months before stabbing spree in downtown Denver
January 17, 2025

Identification of potential blood biomarkers associated with suicide in major depressive disorder (2022)

Investigation of peripheral inflammatory biomarkers in association with violence in schizophrenia (2024)

"Conclusions:

'These findings suggest that inflammation is involved in violent behavior of SCZ patients and positive symptoms partially mediate this association.

"The models built by peripheral inflammatory indices have a good median performance in predicting violent behavior in SCZ patients."

9/11

9/15/2021

This is about contrasting the immediate CONTEXT the US was in before 9/11 to the longer term CONTEXT of the Middle East and by extension South Asia.

Everybody is aware of our CONTEXT -- our CULTURE is broadcast around the world and endlessly discussed.

We're not always aware of even what happened in the last 100 years that greatly affected WORLD HISTORY.

We are an ENTERTAINMENT CULTURE ---- it definitely has its DARK SIDE ("Wag the Dog")---- BUT it also allows us to EXPLORE COMPLEX EMOTIONS & THEMES without actually killing each other.

People often feel TRAPPED by their HISTORICAL CONTEXT.

It took me a long time to realize HOW MUCH INFORMATION is actually being conveyed by ART ("A Picture Paints A Thousand Words").

ART is often conveying much more information than that RESEARCH PAPER with DOZENS or even HUNDREDS of CITES.

Further, it is much more ACCESSIBLE and UNDERSTANDABLE while at the same time ---sometimes able to tackle more COMPLEX THEMES.---

We need ART right now and there is a big segment of the NEURO-DIVERSE POPULATION that could help out with that --- whether film, dance, theatre, visual arts or music --- the SKY'S THE LIMIT.

The Great War

Dividing Up the Middle East --- The Sykes-Picot Agreement

Wag the Dog (1997)

A wicked satire in which a President in the midst of a sex scandal manufactures a war

TSA (Transportation Security Administration)

9/11

"You're in It Now -- Up to Your Neck"

Guns of Navarone (1961)

David Niven has just shot and killed a female German Informant with a compelling back-story.

TRAINING VS INTEGRATION

5/5/2021

We're living in an age not of perfect knowledge BUT of ENORMOUS KNOWLEDGE.
Further, that knowledge is often NOT INTEGRATED throughout the Society where it is needed.

Two Cases in Point: Law Enforcement & Mental Health.

Further, the CONTEXT for this is a US SOCIETY in which we never met a 24-Hour Day we didn't try to BREAK.

Or we set up BOUNDARIES so we don't become RESPONSIBLE for FIXING SYSTEMIC MESSES.

TRAINING as a FIX for EXCESSIVE FORCE by Law Enforcement isn't BAD, but the SYSTEM itself needs SIGNIFICANT ADDITIONS of other PROFESSIONALS ------ the PROBLEMS we currently have are unlikely to be solved with TRAINING alone.

With respect to Mental Health, this Country needs to make TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH and MEDICINE a Priority.

It is NOT REALISTIC to expect Mental Health Professionals to lead Translational Research efforts on top of everything else.

Further, we need to see Physical Health and Mental Health --- thoroughly integrated --- and that means GROUP PRACTICES.

Our Mission

IORG brings together research, solutions, and people to help reduce the impact of Information overload. We achieve this through:

Seeking to understand the effects of information overload in society—including for-profit, not-for-profit, and government institutions.
Facilitating conversations, collaboration and networking among people worldwide – who experience information overload, who study the people who experience it, and who are developing solutions—formal and informal—to address this problem.
Educating organizations and individuals – about the economic and social costs of information overload, and cost-effective countermeasures.
Spreading research-based solutions – including best practices and technologies.

Offices designed to "Monitor" the behavior of Jailors or Law Enforcement can gather important information.

Conceptualizing and Implementing MAJOR REFORM is generally outside the SCOPE of their MANDATES.

THE IMMUNE SYSTEM & COGNITIVE DISABILITY

5/5/2021

To me, it was LOGICALLY OBVIOUS that there are BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS for Behavior --- even if that is effected by the Environment.
On the other hand ---- I didn't have any idea how critical the IMMUNE SYSTEM was to our GOGNITIVE HEALTH.
Researchers may have postulated a role or roles for the IMMUNE SYSTEM in PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS for awhile, BUT it is really in the 21st Century that those "IDEAS" are being CORROBORATED in the Research in a BIG WAY.

When we think about the EVOLUTION of the Criminal Law since Anglo-Saxon Times, the Law was designed to provide a way out of the BLOOD FEUD.
In Modern Times, Family Members and Law Enforcement often see themselves on the same side to get "TREATMENT" for a person who is struggling.

These new understandings with regard to the IMMUNE SYSTEM and BEHAVIOR --- may ultimately lead to more EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS.

With more EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS and a "DE-PERSONALIZATION OF ILLNESS"
- We have the possibility of much greater SAFETY
- AND INDIVIDUALS driving the need for:
  - Research
  - Translational Research & Medicine
  - Services, Supportive Employment, Placements and Supportive Housing

That would be an ACCOMPLISHMENT our FOREBEARERS could be proud of --- wherever they came from.

Warning: Some Language Issues

De Staat: Witch Doctor

Mental Health Professionals in our Society are HYBRIDS:

They apply science and medicine where they have it and are aware of it;
They preach a PRO SOCIAL COMPETENCE Religion, and
They are often our WITCH DOCTORS when we don't have anything else.

The earliest written mention of immunity can be traced back to the plague of Athens in 430 BCE.

Immunological research continues to become more specialized, pursuing non-classical models of immunity and functions of cells, organs and systems not previously associated with the immune system (Yemeserach 2010).

-----Wikipedia

WHICH CAME FIRST LOGIC OR THE IMMUNE SYSTEM? CASE IN POINT: ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER

5/2/2021

My observation is that Anti-Social Personality Disorder Diagnoses are handed out like CANDY in the Criminal Justice System.
In Conservative States with the Death Penalty, it can get you killed.
In states like Colorado, it can get you a long prison sentence doing hard time.

Further, anti-social personality disorder is often the DIAGNOSIS of LAST RESORT for males with behavior problems whether they are in the Criminal Justice System or not.
It can operate as a "GET OUT OF CARE" CARD for the treating mental health professional.
- That is something they might want for extremely difficult patients and professionals have run out of tools in the toolbox.
  - Let's think about this: we often don't have effective treatments for physical and cognitive disorders.
  - But there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between CUSTODIAL CARE and CUSTODIAL PUNISHMENT.

In thinking about the ASPD Diagnosis itself --- there is the NAME and the SUBSTANCE.
- The name isn't BAD EVIL PERSON Diagnosis ---- but it tends to be CODE for that.
- With respect to the SUBSTANCE --- this has been CONCEPTUALIZED as somehow existing outside of BIOLOGY.
  - Further, there is a STRICT DUALITY between BIOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT --- that doesn't seem to reflect REALITY.

Even before the research linking ASPD to the Immune System and calls to consider it a Developmental Disorder------
- The LOGICAL PROBLEMS with the current understanding and treatment of ASPD were screaming at an excruciatingly LOUD HIGH PITCH.
  - It seemed unlikely there was not a biological underpinning for this behavior.
  - Further, it is becoming more clear that there is a biological underpinning and it involves at a minimum the immune system, the endocrine system and the brain.

Endocrine markers of puberty timing and antisocial behaviour in girls and boys (2020)

Affiliations
1Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
2Mental Health Institute, GGZ Westelijk Noord-Brabant, Halsteren, the Netherlands.
3Department of Science and Education, Netherlands Institute for Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
4Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center, Erasmus School of Law, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Study: Poor Immune System May Lead to Anti-Social Behavior (2016)

"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," Dr. Jonathan Kipnis, chairman of the University of Virginia's Department of Neuroscience and author of the study, said in a news release.

"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," he added.

1Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
2Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States
3Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, United States
Edited by: Xiao-Dong Wang, Zhejiang University, China
Reviewed by: Millie Rincón Cortés, University of Pittsburgh, United States; Michael Arthur Van Der Kooij, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany

Aggression, Social Stress, and the Immune System in Humans and Animal Models (2018)

Psychopathy Treatment and the Stigma of Yesterday's Research (2019)

Genome-wide association data suggest ABCB1 and immune-related gene sets may be involved in adult antisocial behavior (2015)

Affiliations

1Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
31] Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA [2] Department of Statistics and Institute of Biotechnology, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey.
4Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
5Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT, USA.
6Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
7Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
8Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
9Department of Genetics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA.

STATE COMPLIANCE WITH THE ADA--RE-IMAGINING HOMELESSNESS

4/28/2021

The homelessness crisis, the incarceration crisis and the police reform crisis ---- are all RELATED, CONNECTED
They are all RELATED, CONNECTED to COGNITIVE DISABILITY and that RELATIONSHIP is NOT REMOTE.
Whether we're talking about Constitutional Principles governing Policing or the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead ---- or any LAW:
- There is the need for LARGE-SCALE VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE
It's become obvious that the US Department of Justice doesn't have the RESOURCES to EFFECTIVELY ENFORCE --- constitutional police conduct and limits the FEDERAL LEGAL ENFORCEMENT AGENCY to 25 cities a year, according to National Public Radio.
The RESOURCE LIMITATIONS are also true with regard to ENFORCEMENT of the AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT and OLMSTEAD.
- There are GREAT cases out there and settlement agreements and guidance --- BUT if STATES are by and large NOT COMPLYING and RESISTANT ---- most people with disabilities, especially cognitive disabilities, are not able to obtain the benefits of the LAW.

When it comes to paying for "HOUSING," "SUPPORTIVE HOUSING" for people with disabilities ---- that is primarily a STATE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY under OLMSTEAD.

Now nobody is against support from any or multiple sources ---- BUT STATES NEED TO STEP UP and make sure SUPPORTIVE HOUSING is provided where needed to its citizens with serious disability.
- STATES need to be providing or have a PLAN to provide HOUSING, SUPPORTIVE HOUSING to people with disabilities that are institutionalized or at great risk of institutionalization as is inherent in homelessness.

Project UROK
Tiana Miller (@TianaTheGoblin) is a comedian and podcaster in NYC. In this video, she talks about her experiences with homelessness, mental illness, drug addiction and being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

NBC Philadelphia
How Cops Cope: Mental Health and Law Enforcement (2018)

RECONCILING ROBERT SAPOLSKY, JOHANN HARI AND BUDDHA

4/26/2021

Religions EVOLVE --- the DEFINITION of "GOD" or "GODS" EVOLVE.
SCIENCE EVOLVES.
LAW EVOLVES.

Religion, Science & Law are a lot about CERTAINTY & PREDICTABILITY, even as they recognize INJUSTICE, RANDOMNESS and COMPLEX and DYNAMIC INTER-RELATIONSHIPS WHOSE COMPREHENSION IS NOT FULLY IN OUR GRASP.

This is about BLIND SPOTS and CAUSALITY.

IT's about FOCUS and the continual need to ADJUST OUR FOCUS to UNDERSTAND "REALITY."

When the Criminal Law "FOCUSES" on "INTENT" + "BAD ACT" --- it's being:
- PRAGMATIC
- "BAD INTENT" does often go with "BAD ACTS"

BUT IF we understand that there is a BIOLOGICAL UNDERPINNING to the BEHAVIOR of ANIMAL LIFE --- that CAUSAL ANALYSIS needs to go further.
- Well, it's about the BRAIN, these people are having BAD THOUGHTS and they need some COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY and a more PRO SOCIAL MIND SET.
  - That like "BAD INTENT" is often not totally wrong, BUT it is often MISSING A LOT --- and it's becoming more and more obvious that it is missing a lot.
  - Well, its looking like our brains are being SHAPED by our IMMUNE SYSTEM.
    - That involves Developmental Difference at Birth
    - It involves Mental Illness that generally involves Executive Functioning Issues
    - It involves Brain Injury
    - It involves Substance Use
    - It involves our Social Environment
    - It involves Environmental Toxins,
    - It involves TRAUMA,
    - It involves the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM,
    - It involves the MICROBIOME -- that is not "TECHNICALLY" Human, and
    - That's the Short List.

Religion Is Nature's Antidepressant | Robert Sapolsky / Big Think (2017)

The Best Mental Health Advice I’ve Ever Heard - Johann Hari (2020)

Introduction to Buddhism | Belief | Oprah Winfrey Network (2015)

The Importance of the Immune System in Cognitive Difference & Disorder helps to RECONCILE:

Biological Explanations for Behavior
The Impact of Social Circumstances on our Biology, and
The need for Spiritual Paths to provide SOLACE when there is little in EMPIRICAL SCIENCE or the SOCIAL ORDER.

Finally, the new understanding that our SOCIAL BEHAVIOR is regulated by a DELICATE BALANCE of our INNATE & ADAPTIVE IMMUNE SYSTEMS underscores the importance of the SOCIAL ENVIROMENT we find ourselves in and the common need to TRANSCEND it.

AUSTRALIAN LEGAL SCHOLAR ON US SUPREME COURT & DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY

4/22/2021

Most Countries are wrestling with similar issues as the US when it comes to Cognitive Disability and the Criminal Justice System.
When I think of Australia --- I think of Crocodile Dundee --- but it was also a former Penal Colony of the British.
Australia is in many cases doing cutting edge work on Brain Injury and Criminal Justice, Mental Illness and the Immune System, trying to address "Personality Disorders" both through special courts and civil commitment in some cases involving danger to others.

There's a fair amount of ADHD in the Criminal Justice System --- really all through it and at various levels, and all sides.
BUT for the people who are finding themselves on the wrong side of the law, they generally (not always) have average or above average intelligence.
Nonetheless, they do have ADHD, AUTISM, PROCESSING DISORDERS, etc.
A lot them do exhibit "Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria" -- or emotions that are often normal in every way except INTENSITY.
Further, as bright as folks may be, they often have EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DEFICITS or DIFFERENCES that are made worse by STRESS.
Unfortunately, if one is experiencing the world so INTENSELY, it is not uncommon for STRESS to go along with that.
This is the part of the SPECTRUM that represents a large percentage of Justice-Involved People as does Brain Injury.

Sometimes Mental Illness and/or Substance Issues are Add-Ons to an underlying Developmental Disability / Difference or Brain Injury.
Additionally, TRAUMA is common among Justice-Involved people and can lead to additional damage to the Immune System and in turn can damage the Brain.

Modifying Societal Behavior Towards Cognitive Disability / Difference

I think a BIG PART of the problem is that what we "THINK" is going on for some people with Cognitive Disability --- is NOT what IS going on.
As hard as it is to believe, I don't think the fundamental issue is "LACK OF EMPATHY."

"Unconscious Bias" is in many ways IGNORANCE.

Ultimately, some Justice-Involved people may need an Advanced Immunologist more than they they need a Psychologist.

I'm not saying that is available TODAY and I'm not saying that there are no roles for psychologists ---- BUT a lot of this does have to do with the Immune System and we don't seem to be on the right track.

Offenders with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Sentencing Challenges after the Abolition of Execution in the United States (2016)

By Ian Freckelton, QC
Barrister and Professorial Fellow in Law & Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne

Abstract

In a sequence of decisions between 1989 and 2014, the United States Supreme Court grappled with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the shadow of the imposition of the death penalty on criminal offenders. In Penry v Lynaugh, 492 US 302 (1989), it jettisoned the notion of ‘mental age’ as a tool for assessing such disabilities.

In Hall v Florida, 572 US (2014); 134 S Ct 1986 (2014), it abandoned the terminology of mental retardation and identified intellectual disability as existing on a spectrum, not being just an IQ number, to be determined by reference to various forms of evidence, lay and expert.

In Atkins v Virginia, 536 US 304 (2002), it pronounced imposition of the death penalty on persons who are ‘mentally retarded’ to be cruel and unusual punishment in breach of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.

Importantly, too, the Supreme Court jurisprudence has evidenced an increasing sophistication in awareness of the forensic repercussions of ‘intellectual and developmental disorders’ (IDDs).

This editorial traces the evolution of United States intellectual disability jurisprudence in respect of imposition of the death penalty, reflects on the ongoing areas of vulnerability for criminal offenders with IDDs and calls for further consideration to be given to the option for offenders with an IDD to be sentenced to reside in a forensic IDD environment as a humane containment and behaviour modification alternative to other forms of disposition.

EVOLUTION & THE IMMUNE SYSTEM & THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM, & THE MICROBIOME & THE ENVIRONMENT & -------- THE BRAIN

4/21/2021

Every age tends to find out it doesn't know as much as it thought it did.
There is the INCREMENTAL or ACCELERATED accumulation of FACTS and INFORMATION --- but where that hits a speed bump is when those FACTS contradict deeply held notions of the Society.

So Human Behavior is all about the brain -- right? Yeah ---- BUT there are trillions of other factors that are important to Behavior and involve other SYSTEMS OF THE BODY and those SYSTEMS OF THE BODY are operating in a complex ENVIRONMENT both SOCIALLY and PHYSICALLY.

So much of this is UNCONSCIOUS or outside our AWARENESS.

BUT this Century is bringing a NEW AWARENESS of Biology as FOUNDATIONAL to BEHAVIOR.

Additionally, we're recognizing the HEALTH EFFECTS of UNCONSCIOUS BIAS and SOCIAL HIERARCHIES.
- We're not necessarily doing a lot about unconscious bias and social hierarchies, but we're 'talking" about them.

The knowledge that the IMMUNE SYSTEM is such a big player in BEHAVIOR is new.

The knowledge that the MICROBIOME could influence our behavior is new. This is research in our lifetimes.

A Public Health Approach to Criminal Justice has been a long time coming and can probably be traced beyond "Mental Illness" to "Age" and other factors.

While the ideas for "A Public Health Approach to Criminal Justice" have been EVOLVING --- so have the ideas regarding ECOSYSTEMS.

We're facing a number of CRISES that are forcing EVOLUTION of our IDEAS in Criminal Justice, our Relationships to One Another and our Relationship to Other Species and the Natural World.

The reality is there is NOT MUCH DIVERSITY among Human Beings. Most of the DIVERSITY we FOCUS on such as ethnicity or skin color is superficial --- most of the DIVERSITY among human beings is in their IMMUNE SYSTEMS.

2014: Then Director of the National Institute of Mental Health: We're all very humble --- We don't even have a parts list for the brain.

University of Virginia School of Medicine Researchers Find Altering Link Between Brain and Immune System -- Changes Behavior (2016)

Professor Graham Rook at University College London: People are disturbed by the idea that they are not individuals, but they are not --- they are Ecosystems. (2018)

Professor Daniel Davis at Manchester University: Genes & Immunity

It's Biology

4/19/2021

Even researchers can sometimes get caught up in whether a particular Behavior represents a "disease' or not or a "mental disorder."
I would submit Stanford Neuro-Biologist Robert Sapolsky cut through that by recognizing that the issue was BIOLOGY.
So it's a lot like GRAVITY --- if you want to say there is someplace where GRAVITY doesn't operate --- the burden is on you to prove that --- because it is so well established that GRAVITY is one of the fundamental forces of the Universe.

FREE WILL v. DETERMINISM DEBATE ---- we've got to engage in some DIVERGENT THINKING and STEP OUT OF THIS.

If there is a BEHAVIOR of an animal or person --- there's an UNDERLYING BIOLOGY driving that behavior.

Further, environments can and do effect our BIOLOGY.

If we want to get more control over ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR --- we must understand the BIOLOGY / ENVIRONMENT that drives it.

On the one hand, I'm absolutely arguing for a PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH to CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

On the other hand, we are on the CUSP of entering a BRAVE NEW WORLD OF BIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE ---- and that is going to require ETERNAL VIGILANCE as LIFE often does.

Neurobiological roots of psychopathy (2019)

We observed enrichment in several immune response-related pathways.

This is an interesting finding since a recent study on adult antisocial behavior found enrichment in 7 gene sets, most of which being immune related [9].

This suggests that altered immune response contributes to the pathophysiology of antisocial behavior.

Smarthistory

Lucus Cranach the Elder, Adam and Eve, 1526, oil on panel (Courtauld Gallery, London).

Speakers: Rachel Ropeik and Steven Zucker

<<Previous