Blog Archives

AIDS, COVID-19, BLACK LIVES MATTER AND MENTAL HEALTH----------SCIENCE, ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM, PSEUDO-INTELLECTUALISM AND HEALTH

7/31/2020

    Politicians tend to respond to people protesting in the Streets.

That has been a BIG PART of the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT and BLACK LIVES MATTER and other movements such as the DISABILITY MOVEMENT --- and ACT UP for AIDS RESEARCH.

  Now AIDS Activists could afford to believe in SCIENCE and it's served them very well ----- they didn't have a history of SCIENCE gone wrong such as MENTAL HEALTH and LOBOTOMIES and the more recent great, to so-so to terrible medications.

    [That, of course, is not really true --- sexual orientation has it's own scary history of scientific and psychiatric HARMFUL "treatments." But maybe because AIDS was NOT psychiatric --- AIDS activists felt comfortable demanding SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.]

    What AIDS Activists had was a SOCIETY --- that didn't feel their pain and was engaged in GROSS NEGLECT and INDIFFERENCE.

THE SAME IS TRUE FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND COGNITIVE DISABILITY -- even as that SOCIETY is PAYING BEAUCOUP BUCKS for UNDERWHELMING TREATMENTS.

   What tends to pervade MENTAL HEALTH CLINICAL PRACTICE is a lot of PSEUDO-INTELLECTUALISM ---- "A person who claims proficiency in scholarly or artistic activities while lacking in-depth knowledge or critical understanding."

What's the CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING Mental Health Professionals LACK:

At the end of the day, they don't know WHY the DSM 5 and its categories MATTER -- because in some ways it may seem pretty FAR REMOVED from what they are ACTUALLY DOING anyway.
What they are ACTUALLY doing is very well-intentioned -- so it must be right, right?
Mental Health Professionals do tend to be SMART -- but they don't tend to be good at questioning UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS and/or AUTHORITY. (We're NOT advocating a mindless questioning of assumptions or authority --- BUT the PROFESSION as a WHOLE has to EMPOWER CRITICAL THINKING ABILITIES to question UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS and AUTHORITY -- or one ends up in the MESS we're in NOW).
A BIG PART of EMPOWERING that is FUNDING the TIME and ENERGY for Research and Translational Research/Medicine to Clinical Practice.

THE MESS WE'RE IN NOW &
GETTING OUT OF IT

A lot of people with "MENTAL ILLNESS" tend to be "gifted" (meaning -- asynchonous development and have some "advanced ability" in one or more diverse areas)
They are often contending with both SIGNIFICANT Sensory and/or INFORMATION OVERLOAD as well as SIGNIFICANT EMOTIONAL DIS-REGULATION.
We don't think these ADVANCED ABILITIES are MAGIC -- even if the effect can be very IMPRESSIVE and/or MAGICAL.
Some people are taking in A LOT "MORE" than the "NORM" -- it can be and generally is a MIXED BAG (one of our themes).
Especially, for people who are TWICE EXCEPTIONAL (which is probably most "gifted" people) --- who have ADVANCED ABILITIES and DISABILITIES --- it can be very DIFFICULT to have one's ideas appreciated especially if they come wrapped in a lot of EMOTIONAL DIS-REGULATION.
The ARTS are one of the few places that really ACCEPT and TOLERATE that.
The REALITY is there are RIGHT NOW some Mental Health Patients who are very good at QUESTIONING UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS and AUTHORITY and are as Emotionally Disregulated as all get out -- they don't look or act like Mr. Spock -- even if their intellectual abilities are very high.
Mental Health Patients and Professionals have a lot to teach each other.

What's The Point or The Proof Is In the Pudding

There are some FUNDAMENTAL LOGICAL and even ALGEBRIAC PRINCIPLES that Mental Health Clinical & Forensic -- don't seem to get. Namely,
- if you can't cure it -- your understanding is at least on some level incorrect.
- Some mental health is looking a whole lot like developmental disability with high IQ or other advanced ability;
- Further, this seems to be intimately connected with the BRAIN-IMMUNE-GUT TRIAD or TRIANGLE.
- and that Re-conceptiualization SHOULD BE changing TREATMENT MODALITIES
Further, a lot of the PEOPLE IN THE LEGAL SYSTEM probably do get those "logical" principles even if they are not aware of some of the latest research --- BUT what's the "STRATEGIC" best course of action? If you undermine Clinical and Forensic -- what are we left with?
We gotta have a PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH to CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Further, we want to make clear that NO ONE has to BUY INTO our INTERPRETATION of our EXPERIENCE, OBSERVATION, or the RESEARCH to REALIZE we need a PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH to CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
The LOGICAL PROBLEMS ARE THERE REGARDLESS.

What's The Point? (We're Using this clip to symbolize a lot of things):

Mental Health Clinical seems STUCK IN TRAFFIC and GOING NOWHERE FAST
"La La Land" aka "Hollywood -- home to a lot of very talented (and intelligent) emotionally dis-regulated people.
"Giftedness" comes in a lot of shapes, sizes and colors.
If you want to MOVE -- sometimes you have to get out of your CAR or INTELLECTUAL BOX

What's The Point?

"I like a good demon sperm joke as well as the next guy, but this is serious."
When it comes to Clinical and Forensic Mental Health it is NOT so much that professionals are OUTRAGEOUSLY BIZARRE -- it is that they are well-meaning, they don't know their limits -- and they are oblivious to the harm they are causing.
Now maybe one could say that about us -- that we don't know our limits -- BUT the fact of the matter is CLINICAL & FORENSIC are IGNORING/UNAWARE of the concerns of the US National Institute of Mental Health --- and we should be very concerned about that.

Mental disorders are among the most complex problems in medicine, with challenges at every level from neurons to neighborhoods.

Yet, we know so little about mechanisms at each level. Too often, we have been guided more by religion than science.

That is, so much of mental health care is based on faith and intuition, not science and evidence.

On the plus side, we put a premium on listening and compassion. We help people to change through understanding.

But not enough of our care has been standardized to a high level of quality, as expected in the rest of medicine.

------------Dr. Tom Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health from his October 2014 Blog Atonement

THE HARSH REALITY OF UNSUPPORTED PEOPLE & PROFESSIONS

7/28/2020

The FURY we feel towards the MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION (or for that matter the LEGAL SYSTEM) is often MIRRORED in the FURY the Criminal Justice System feels towards Defendants with Cognitive Disabilities ---- You SHOULD:

Know Better
Do Better
Be Better

The unfortunate reality is that those LECTURES and DIATRIBES generally do very little to CHANGE anything --- and the CHANGE and/or MAJOR SUPPORT that is NEEDED is often STRUCTURAL and the trick is how to make that DO-ABLE.

   I don't think we have a "COMPETENT" MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION --- and I don't think the Criminal Justice System or our "MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS" can really be REFORMED or SUFFICIENTLY ADDRESSED without SUBSTANTIVELY addressing that.

Further, COMPETENCE is by and large NOT about knowing everything --- because if it were --- no one could ever be COMPETENT.

BUT when one is in such an area of COMPLEXITY --- you gotta REALLY PULL IT BACK, and REFUSE to ALLOW YOURSELF to be used for purposes of PUNISHMENT --- that includes STATE DOCS, that includes people who like to get on TV --- that includes all the people in the PROFESSION.

   The REAL DO-ABLE substantive address of these problems is SUPPORT, but it is NOT cheap:

Research and Translational Research to Clinical Practice -- not just of "mental illness" but cognitive disability across the board, since so many people experience more than one issue
Integrated, Multi-Disciplinary Teams including Mental Health & Neurology but also experimental Immunology, Endocrinology and Gastro-Enterology
Housing, Intensive Services and Placements in the meantime.

Hair Analysis, Psychological Analyisis, the Criminal Law and the Ethical & Moral Duty to Pull Back

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

30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ADA & THE NEED FOR FEDERAL LEADERSHIP

7/27/2020

WE NEED FEDERAL LEADERSHIP TO BRING ABOUT A COMPREHENSIVE CONTINUUM OF CARE FOR A BROAD RANGE OF COGNITIVE DISABILITIES

We talk a lot about Research and Translational Research/Medicine which we do think is the ULTIMATE SCIENTIFIC "ANSWER." but for many people with PHYSICAL or COGNITIVE DISABILITIES -- that ULTIMATE SCIENTIFIC "ANSWER" is NOT going to come in THIS LIFETIME.

THAT was at least some of the fury directed against well-meaning Jerry Lewis and the Jerry Lewis Telethon --- and not wanting to be pitied or exploited.

It is also dealing with the REALITY of what's SCIENTIFICALLY possible and what's not---- that is at the heart of the US Supreme Court's 1999 Olmstead decision, holding unnecessary institutionalization of people with DISABILITIES a violation of TITLE II of the AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT.

THEORETICALLY -- this is NOT anywhere near the UGLY REALITY --- States need to have a Comprehensive, Effectively working "Plan" for people with DISABILITIES who are "INSTITUTIONALIZED" or "AT GREAT RISK of INSTITUTIONALIZATION" that has:

Measurable Goals
Reasonable Time Frames, and
Funding to Support the Plan

Two of the things that means is:

Homelessness is covered by Olmstead, AND
INCARCERATION as a form INSTITUTIONALIZATION is covered as well, even if the HOUSING & SERVICES & PLACEMENTS required currently don't require an early release.

THE MADDENING THING about all of this is that even many prosecutors in CONSERVATIVE STATES have been employing TREATMENT ALTERNATIVES for DECADES --- those ALTERNATIVES are just often NOT TAILORED to the LONG TERM NEEDS of some people.

NOW --- not everybody needs that -- but often thousands of people within a STATE will need it --- and it is NOT CHEAP.

THIS IS VERY COMPLICATED -- it is NOT all "Mental Illness" -- a big part of it is BRAIN INJURY and HIGH IQ Developmental Disability (ADHD and AUTISM) with SIGNIFICANT EMOTIONAL DIS-REGULATION.

Further, it absolutely includes SUBSTANCE ISSUES -- alone or as is often the case --- a DIY attempt at BRAIN INJURY, DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY or "MENTAL ILLNESS" or TRAUMA--- management.

WE'VE GOT TO HAVE MORE FEDERAL LEADERSHIP ON THIS.

That means a lot of THINGS. One of the Things it means is NOT FORCING STATES to RE-INVENT the WHEEL -- but providing a TEMPLATE they can TAILOR and EXPERIMENT with so long as they stay within the LAW.

When we talk about the ADA, Olmstead Planning and Cognitive Disability -- that is one of the most complicated endeavors in this society --- we're going to be waiting a long, long time for it to happen SPONTANEOUSLY.

Voice of America (July 26, 2020)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is "A CIVIL RIGHTS LAW"

THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN' . . ."ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER" TESTING KEY ASSUMPTIONS

7/25/2020

David Brooks

Last night I heard political commentator David Brooks quoting somebody else regarding the EXTRAORDINARY TIMES we're living in as a combination of the:

1918 Spanish Flu
the Great Depression, and
1968 Civil Unrest

We would add to that:

a Second Age of Enlightenment, including Political Enlightenment
a Technological Revolution that is driving many things, including
a Biological Revolution that is in the process of transforming:
- The Legal System,
- Mental Health and maybe MORE IMPORTANTLY other Medical Disciplines when it comes to cognitive disability
- and the Society as a WHOLE

One of the BIG KAHUNAs in all this is "ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER" -- because it really brings in some of the KEY ASSUMPTIONS of the SOCIETY that don't seem to be true.

And what does seem to be "TRUE," that there are a lot of COMPLEX, BIOLOGICALLY-BASED and MEDIATED COGNITIVE DISABILITIES (not limited to mental illness or psychosis) as well as the Biological Impacts of Trauma or Aggression or Substances --- that we don't always have great treatments for --- and may require long term expensive HOUSING, Intensive Services, and/or Placements ----- is not anything anybody wants to hear.

So there is a very fine line to walk here -- WE HAVE TO HAVE HOPE, but plenty of Individuals and Families around the COUNTRY will tell you ----- what STATES are doing is frighteningly insufficient and that includes Colorado.

And a lot of judges would tell you that too.

ABSTRACT

It has been argued that a biomarker-informed classification system for antisocial individuals has the potential to overcome many obstacles in current conceptualizations of forensic and psychiatric constructs and promises better targeted treatments. However, some have expressed ethical worries about the social impact of the use of biological information for classification.

Many have discussed the ethical and legal issues related to possibilities of using biomarkers for predicting antisocial behavior.

We argue that prediction should not raise the most pressing ethical worries. Instead, issues connected with “biologization”, such as stigmatization and negative effects on self-image, need more consideration.

However, we conclude that also in this respect there are no principled ethical objections against the use of biomarkers to guide classification and treatment of adult antisocial individuals.

THE NEED FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION IN MENTAL HEALTH--- WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

7/24/2020

One of the most obvious things it means is having the capacity to deal with:

Brain Injury
Mental Illness
Autism and ADHD
Substance Issues

with 1 TEAM.

Further, that TEAM is not just the usual suspects such as Neurology and Mental Health -- it needs to pull in from Experimental Immunology, Gastroenterology and Endocrinology.

    We need something along the lines of the Cancer Centers that pull in a lot of different specialties and give people access to the latest research and scientific trials.

    Having Mental Health as some orphan child on its own -- has been DISASTROUS for improvements in treatment that are desperately needed.

   Further, private practitioners often don't even take insurance -- they are just at SURVIVAL MODE much less trying to really substantively further the practice. Whatever administrative support they have is generally very limited -- and they're pretty much running in place and so are their patients.

  The American Psychiatric Association is all about expanding business opportunities for Psychiatrists -- but the reality is the profession has been stagnating for sometime  -- a lot of what the Mental Health Profession needs is to be brought into the rest of the World of Medicine and provided the SUPPORT it really deserves.

STATEWIDE DISCHARGE PLANNING COORDINATION AND MEDICAID RE-DESIGN

7/22/2020

Discharge Planning for Individuals with Cognitive Disability is COMPLEX..
We need Systems that can engage in CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT and ENHANCED DATA COLLECTION.
Whether we are talking about discharging from:

a hospital
a mental institute
nursing home
the Streets
a jail or
a prison

Many people with Serious Cognitive Disability are often looking at similar needs:

Supportive Housing
Intensive Services, or
Placements if necessary

We need to be collecting information regarding those individual needs from people discharging around the State -- and making yearly reports to the Legislature regarding needs and proposed ways to address those needs.

We think this could be covered under Medicaid, and such Coordinated Discharge Planning is a key element of effective Olmstead Planning.

Medicaid Coverage of Housing-Related Activities

At least back to 2015, CMS saw a prominent leadership role for Medicaid in Olmstead Planning -- including HOUSING.

This cuts across Disability Categories.

It's an EMERGENCY for People with Cognitive Disabilities -- BUT we're DE-SENSITIZED to Homelessness and Incarceration of People with Cognitive Disabilities -- it is HARD for us to do what is NECESSARY.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS OFTEN A SIGN OF SERIOUS UNRESOLVED ISSUES

7/20/2020

Semantic Political Correctness is not necessarily a bad thing -- BUT it can get RIDICULOUS pretty quickly.

The reason it can get so out of control is that it is often an easy ask for the aggrieved party and it's not that hard to comply with.

On the other hand, it can be pretty far removed from the SUBSTANTIVE and COMPLICATED CONCERNS and NEEDS of the group in question.

All sides need to be dealing with those SUBSTANTIVE issues.

People are RE-ACTING and OVER-REACTING to words like "TRIBE" and a Cycle Shop -- because the "GENOCIDE" they are really concerned about hasn't been sufficiently addressed.

We've got to have the ability to deal with the real issues or we are not going to get out of our SEMANTIC and REAL-WORLD HELLS.

When it comes to DISABILITY, that means providing ADEQUATE SUPPORTIVE HOUSING, not just PEOPLE-FIRST LANGUAGE as important as that may be.

We think there actually is a reason for some political correctness -- and that is the more complicated and substantive issues are -- the more they are viewed as too difficult to deal with.

JOHN LEWIS--A MORAL GIANT SETS A HIGH BAR

7/20/2020

OUR TAKE regarding THE NEXT STEP To "FREEDOM":
MARRYING A MORE SOPHISTICATED "RESTORATIVE JUSTICE" WITH A PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Even Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother Teresa had their flaws -- it's not clear what John Lewis' flaws were.
When confronted with great Societal Dysfunction and Injustice,, he had the RAW COURAGE to speak out against it.
He also engaged in CONTINUOUS ACTION to address PROFOUND PROBLEMS he was just born into -- as human beings tend to be.

It is going to take some RAW COURAGE and CONTINUOUS ACTION to get to real CRIMINAL JUSTICE and SOCIETAL REFORM.

"Governing" website has an article about "RESTORATIVE JUSTICE" and the need to move beyond PUNISHMENT.

It is a BIG, HUGE STEP for "Governing" to recognize the need to move beyond PUNISHMENT.

On the other hand, the model of Restorative Justice that has been around for 30 years or more --- ISN"T GOOD ENOUGH.

This really is a lot more COMPLICATED than people saying they are sorry and asking for forgiveness. If that is all you think you have to do, you're going to set a lot of people up for FAILURE.

We need that Restorative Justice sensibility with the John Lewis insight that it's the society that has a lot to answer for.

If anybody wants that higher spiritual sense to Criminal Justice Reform -- we do -- but we need it married to a PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH to Criminal Justice.

A lot of this can be more COMPLICATED than we think -- like:

is there LEAD in the water?
are people dealing with the biological effects of TRAUMA or AGGRESSION
are you living in a FOOD DESERT
there are many, many, many causes of psychiatric symptoms or poor or dangerous judgment -- do we have the RAW COURAGE to acknowledge REALITY

"When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair -- You have a moral obligation to say something or do something,"
JOHN LEWIS

SPECIALNESS AS EFFECTIVENESS

7/18/2020

       I have a rather unfortunate habit of getting an idea, getting an insight --- and 10 seconds later saying -- "Why aren't people doing this, these blankety-blank idiots -- do I to have to do everything myself -- and the HUMAN SUFFERING this is causing -- is there a cross I could nail these people to."

    The EMBARRASSING REALITY for me has often been by the time I get this fleshed out (years later)-- many people are already there -- and some are ahead me.

The EXCRUCIATING REALITY is that none of this negates the real SUFFERING these REFORMS are meant to AMELIORATE.

  I've spent some time attacking EXCLUSIONARY NOTIONS of SPECIALNESS, because the US has over 350 Million People and the world has over 7 Billion people that need SPECIAL ROLES in SOCIETY -- need to be recognized as "SPECIAL" and treated as "SPECIAL ".

"THAT's IMPOSSIBLE!" Actually, it's NOT impossible and a lot of animals have found ways to do it for a very, very long time. (Although HIERARCHY is the often easy and destructive niche creator, we need to do better than that.)

   This is also a lot about DIVERSITY and INCLUSION --- and using DIVERGENT THINKING as a TOOL to achieve INCLUSION of a very DIVERSE POPULATION -- that isn't totally HUMAN (See University College London's Graham Rook and the Old Friends Hypothesis).

A lot of life as we know it is about RE-COMBINANT DNA -- a lot of CREATIVITY and INNOVATION is about taking known things and ideas combining them in new ways -- and there are often an INFINITE NUMBER of COMBINATIONS.

   Every person is a unique combination of BIO/ENVIRONMENT and they have INFORMATION that nobody else has -- about what's working and what's not working in this LIFE.

   INFORMATION is ENCODED in all kinds of things -- it is ENCODED in ROCKS, it's ENCODED in BACTERIA, it's ENCODED in EMOTION, it's ENCODED in MAMMALIAN BIO-MARKERS, in PRIMATE BIO-MARKERS, HUMAN BIO-MARKERS and IDIOSYNCRATIC BIO-MARKERS of the INDIVIDUAL -- hence the NEED for INDIVIDUAL and PRECISION MEDICINE.

   COGNITIVE DISABILITY often puts this need for INDIVIDUAL AND PRECISION MEDICINE in HIGH RELIEF where we're talking MULTIPLE SYSTEMS of the BODY --- that we're only beginning to appreciate in the 21st Century, most notably the IMMUNE SYSTEM and the MICROBIOME -- but the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM is right there along with that CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM and BRAIN that we've known about for awhile even if we haven't completely understood..

    It is recognizing BOTH our PROFOUND COMMONALITY and INDIVIDUALITY that is the KEY to HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS and HEALTHY SOCIETIES.

Getting thru a docket in a US Courtroom is often a model of judicial efficiency and horrific ineffectiveness when it comes to people.

"FREE WILL," PUNISHMENT, RISK ASSESSMENT & EUGENICS

7/17/2020

Societies tend to be PROBLEMATIC on their own terms.
On the other hand, we're often re-cycling Old or even Ancient Ideas with very little appreciation of:
- Where they came from, or
- How they relate to other FOUNDATIONAL IDEAS in the Society, and
- How those ABSTRACT IDEAS have REAL-WORLD CONSEQUENCES -- sometimes CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES

So what is so baffling about the use of "suspect classifications" such as anti-social personality disorder or psychopathy as a justification for PUNISHMENT is that the HISTORICAL JUSTIFICATION for PUNISHMENT is NOT ------we don't have a good treatment.

St. Augustine and other Christian, Muslim and Jewish philosophers and theologians have had more SOPHISTICATED views than this over the centuries.

BUT they weren't dealing with LARGE SCALE BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS for HUMAN BEHAVIOR.

PUNISHMENT is about PUNISHING the Exercise of FREE WILL, and more pragmatically ending the BLOOD FEUD or its modern equivalents.

If you're in the REALM of BIOLOGY -- you NEED to get the HELL OUT of the REALM of PUNISHMENT.

RISK ASSESSMENTS can be a very powerful demonstration that this is a lot more COMPLICATED than ISOLATED BAD ACTS coupled with ISOLATED BAD INTENT.

We shouldn't be using RISK ASSESSMENTS for purposes of PUNISHMENT -- further, those RISK ASSESSMENTS are in need of a lot of CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT -- they're NOT perfect.

Rabbi Hillel

At Hillel, fostering a culture of disabilities inclusion

WHAT"S THE POINT? A lot of religions such as Judaism have come A LONG WAY in their approach to mental illness and cognitive disability in general.

If ancient religions can change -- so can the US Criminal Justice System.

Channel 7 Detroit: Muslim American Voices: Psychologist Dr. Halim Naeem, activist in Muslim mental health movement

WHAT'S THE POINT? Religious Diversity, Perceptions of an unjust system both racially and for some religious minorities such as Muslims.

Also, raises the issue of CONTINUED GRIEVANCE (the modern day Blood Feud) because issues have not been sufficiently addressed.

The Use of "Anti-Social Personality Disorder" and "Psychopathy" as a justification for PUNISHMENT is a form of EUGENICS.

What the labels lack in Scientific Understanding, they make up for in IMPLIED INFERIORITY and MORAL DISGUST.

The result is a NIGHTMARE for people who receive these UNSCIENTIFIC LABELS in the Criminal Justice System where the most inhumane punishments may be rationalized as even humane custodial care is denied..
US Criminal Justice is a PROFOUNDLY FAILED SYSTEM. One of the reasons for that is the people running it don't feel empowered to ASK the Hard Questions.

Further, much of REALITY and the SOCIETY"s role in Criminal Behavior is deemed OFF LIMITS and IRRELEVANT.

SAFETY and HUMANE TREATMENT are GOOD GUIDEPOSTS.

It's time we get out of the PUNISHMENT BUSINESS before we hurt anyone else.

IT'S TIME FOR A PUBLIC HEALTH APPPROACH TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

St. Augustine, Florida

ST. AUGUSTINE, CATHOLICS, AND MENTAL ILLNESS (2013)

The first comes from St. Augustine. In his City of God, in which he covers and theologizes upon the whole of history as he knows it, he considers, briefly, the gift that is the human intellect.

What a wondrous thing it is that we have been given the ability to know our world, our selves, and even, with the help of grace, our God!

In the midst of this beautiful, celebratory passage, however, he interrupts himself to say this:

Crazy people say and do many incongruous things, things for the most part alien to their intentions and their characters, certainly contrary to their good intentions and characters; and when we think about their words and actions, or see them with our eyes, we can scarcely — or possibly we cannot at all — restrain our tears, if we consider their situation as it deserves to be considered.

WHAT'S THE POINT? We're very interested in marrying Saint Augustine's sentiment above with:

New Understandings on the Biological -Bases of Behavior, especially although not limited to the Immune System.
A much more sophisticated and complex view of human cognitive disability
A PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE. That is how we loosen our sometimes self-defeating moral judgments, and tighten our grip on SAFETY and HUMANE TREATMENT

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Val's Blog

AIDS, COVID-19, BLACK LIVES MATTER AND MENTAL HEALTH----------SCIENCE, ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM, PSEUDO-INTELLECTUALISM AND HEALTH

THE HARSH REALITY OF UNSUPPORTED PEOPLE & PROFESSIONS

30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ADA & THE NEED FOR FEDERAL LEADERSHIP

WE NEED FEDERAL LEADERSHIP TO BRING ABOUT A COMPREHENSIVE CONTINUUM OF CARE FOR A BROAD RANGE OF COGNITIVE DISABILITIES

THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN' . . ."ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER" TESTING KEY ASSUMPTIONS

THE NEED FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION IN MENTAL HEALTH--- WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

STATEWIDE DISCHARGE PLANNING COORDINATION AND MEDICAID RE-DESIGN

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS OFTEN A SIGN OF SERIOUS UNRESOLVED ISSUES

JOHN LEWIS--A MORAL GIANT SETS A HIGH BAR

OUR TAKE regarding THE NEXT STEP To "FREEDOM":
MARRYING A MORE SOPHISTICATED "RESTORATIVE JUSTICE" WITH A PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE

SPECIALNESS AS EFFECTIVENESS

"FREE WILL," PUNISHMENT, RISK ASSESSMENT & EUGENICS

ST. AUGUSTINE, CATHOLICS, AND MENTAL ILLNESS (2013)

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Val's Blog

WE NEED FEDERAL LEADERSHIP TO BRING ABOUT A COMPREHENSIVE CONTINUUM OF CARE FOR A BROAD RANGE OF COGNITIVE DISABILITIES

OUR TAKE regarding THE NEXT STEP To "FREEDOM": MARRYING A MORE SOPHISTICATED "RESTORATIVE JUSTICE" WITH A PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE​

ST. AUGUSTINE, CATHOLICS, AND MENTAL ILLNESS (2013)

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Archives

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OUR TAKE regarding THE NEXT STEP To "FREEDOM":
MARRYING A MORE SOPHISTICATED "RESTORATIVE JUSTICE" WITH A PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE