Blog Posts

Is the mental health profession too far behind the research to practice?

1/15/2026

Val's Take: The Mental Health Profession is NOT going to be able to transcend its HUGE LIMITATIONS without HUGE SUPPORT that is TARGETED and can address HUGE BLIND SPOTS, involving:

The DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF HEALTH & DISEASE
The IMMUNE SYSTEM,

The ENDOCRINE SYSTEM,
METABOLISM,
The MICROBIOME,
Etc.

Psychiatric, Neurological, and Somatic Comorbidities in Intermittent Explosive Disorder (2026)

Affiliations

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Norton College of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York.
Department of Family Medicine, Norton College of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York.
Ross University School of Medicine, Miramar, Florida.
Clinical Psychology Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Norton College of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York.
Institute for Human Performance, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, Norton College of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York.

Even if you don't trust AI, just search PUBMED.

BUT Mental Health Professionals cannot perpetually stay a decade or more behind the research and expect to be paid for EXPERTISE they don't have.

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Conclusion and relevance: These findings highlight the extensive comorbidities between IED [Intermittent Explosive Disorder] and psychiatric, neurological, and somatic disorders, emphasizing the need for integrated diagnostic and treatment approaches addressing both psychological and physical health aspects of IED.

Limitations related to reliance on medical records and low diagnostic rates of IED caution the generalizability of these findings, underscoring the need for further validation in prospective studies and more accurate, inclusive diagnosis of IED in patients with mental disorders

How many people has CMHIP sent back to the court with an "ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER DIAGNOSIS" who had a condition or conditions that was much more complicated than that?

On the one hand this is about NEW RESEARCH, INSIGHTS & UNDERSTANDINGS ---- but it is also about a FAILURE OF REASONING in which mental health professionals write off their failures as:

Lack of Motivation on the part of the person (Most of these people with Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric Disorders have SIGNIFICANT MITOCHONDRIAL DYSFUNCTION----
Even if one didn't know the cause, just assuming lack of motivation seems insanely stupid
- BUT that's with the benefit of hindsight
Also, this idea that is less prevalent than it was but is still out there ---- "If the medication doesn't work, they must not have a psychiatric disorder."
- I mean how do you get that stupid?
- You get that stupid by thinking you know it all and when your actual knowledge base is much less than you think.
- That is going to be a significant problem for pretty much anyone.
- We can't have these harsh punishments and judgments --- but we have to have SAFETY --- and that is not always easily correlated to the HIERARCHY
  - and those relationships that do exist are not necessarily what we think.

Mental Health's unconscionable gap between research and practice

1/11/2026

Three Big Points:
1. The Delay in Translational Medicine is a Legitimate Issue.
2. Mental Health Patients put up with a lot more than most patients would.
3. MORE Efforts are needed to bridge the gap between Research & Practice.

UK Academic Health Science Partners

University of Bristol ---Immunopsychiatry Research Group

Oxford University --- Immuno-Metabolism & Severe Mental Illness Group

Menninger Clinic Mindscape
John Oldham, Chief of Staff, interviews
Peter Fonagy, Ph.D
University College London

Delivery of Mental Healthcare in the U.K. (2013)

Heart of Glass

12/18/2025

Val's Take/Conjecture:

"It seemed like the real thing, only to find . . ."

I'm referring to the intellectual foundations of psychiatry over the past several decades, and finding that intellectual foundation was NOT solid.

It's encouraging that our understandings are improving --- but it is not encouraging that our Clinicians are so far behind, and for that matter patients, families, policymakers and the public.

Now will they catch-up ultimately --- after several more years they likely will catch up.

But our current system is primed to be perpetually behind without greater investment in Translational Research & Medicine.

Blondie
Heart of Glass

Fighting Neuroimmune Disorders & Ignorance

12/15/2025

"The Immune System can regulate
a whole host of brain diseases . . ." (2019)

Icahn School of Medicine
at Mount Sinai

See also: PANDAS Physicians Network

Early Recognition & Treatment of Neuroimmune Psychiatric Conditions: A Paradigm Shift in Neuropsychiatry - PANS/PANDAS (Nov. 2025)

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Fighting Neuroimmune Disorders (2019)

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

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Failure to provide sufficient translational Research & Medicine is a Justice Issue

12/11/2025

Val's Take: In a complex society, there are many different "types" of "players."

Mental Health is bringing into HIGH RELIEF that we do not have sufficient TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH & MEDICINE.

We can't just add this onto the duties of traditional Researchers or Clinicians. To mix my metaphors ---switching to baseball -- we can't ask people to play both PITCHER and SHORT-STOP.

This wasn't such a big issue when psychiatric research was relatively STATIC, but now that it is TAKING OFF --- it's a HUGE PROBLEM.

We need UNIVERSITIES, ENTREPRENEURS & POLICYMAKERS to address the need for greater and more useful Translational Research & Medicine.

High School Musical

Getcha Head in the Game --
Sing-A-Long

The Gap Between Psychiatric Research and Psychiatric Practice: UNTENABLE*

12/8/2025

This Gap is hurting patients globally, but in criminal justice and homelessness the harms are obvious and expensive

Val's Take/Conjecture

There is a general recognition in the research community that PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH is undergoing a PARADIGM SHIFT.

The enormous progress in Psychiatric Research is putting into high relief the need for improved systems of Translational Research and Medicine

as well as the need for more sophisticated Public Health approaches to criminal justice and homelessness.

Donnie Jackson
Untenable

There is no sustainable criminal justice reform without safety

11/29/2025

EDITORIAL: Incompetency — a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card?

Nov. 16, 2025

Gov. Jared Polis

Gov. Jared Polis seeks $12M to house suspects declared incompetent

Nov. 11, 2025

This is a REAL ISSUE and efforts to increase investment for housing suspects declared incompetent are welcomed by many perspectives on the issue.

How Did Colorado's Competency Program & Continuum of Care become such a broken mess

What does the distinction between "Intelligence" and "Executive Functioning" mean in relation to unconscious bias & Hiearchy?

11/19/2025

Val's Take: Rene Brooks FLAGS this HUGE ISSUE: the distinction between INTELLIGENCE and EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING.

NOW --- one of the reasons why this has gone under the radar is that for a long time RESEARCHERS basically said people with EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING ISSUES weren't intelligent.

It is relatively recently that educators and others have started to say, "Hey, these gifted kids often have executive functioning issues."

That got literally WHITE-WASHED in many cases because INTELLIGENCE was deemed to be such an unqualified good. It is much more complicated than that.

Neuro-Diverse Folks tend to congregate at the upper and lower levels of the society, with others not liking what they see and trying to protect themselves as much as possible.

HIERARCHY is mediating a lot of this in often PERVERSE WAYS.

Embracing Intensity

Thrice-Exceptional: Gifted, ADHD and Black (2022)

Interview with Rene Brooks
Black Girl, Lost Keys

The Drama of it All

Unconscious Bias & Hierarchy: How's that Meritocracy workin' out for ya?

towards a more balanced view of "Giftedness" and "Talent"

"Brave" and "Anosognosia" in the Homeless discussion

11/11/2025

Val's Take:

Anosognosia can in some cases accurately describe INDIVIDUALS --- it can also sometimes accurately describe RESEARCHERS, CLINICIANS and POLICYMAKERS.

A BIG PART of what I want to say is that we seem to be getting out of some of this.

There is a general public awareness that some people who are homeless do probably have some classic definition of ANOSOGNOSIA ---- the problem is that researchers, clinicians and policymakers can also have anosognosia.

What needs to be provided is dependent on what treatments are available and how effective those treatments are for individuals.

BEFORE WE GET TO GOOD TREATMENTS, WE NEED GOOD CONCEPTUALIZATIONS.

Thirty years ago, we had primitive conceptualizations and primitive treatments--- people know that some people were REFUSING treatment --- but Health Care did not have the appreciation of the need for PRECISION MEDICINE that it has today.

On the other hand, where are we if we don't have adequate understandings and treatments and there are Security Concerns ----- HIGH LEVEL CUSTODIAL CARE.

In the last 10 to 15 years, the RESEARCH has taken off, but neither the RESEARCHERS nor the CLINCIANS have the bandwidth to bridge that gap.

When we're moving from Brain Disorders to NEURO-IMMUNE DISORDERS that affect multiple systems of the body --- there's a lot that is needed in TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH & MEDICINE.

ANOSOGNOSIA

"Anosognosia is a condition characterized by a lack of awareness or denial of a disability or health condition. It can manifest as an inability to recognize one's own health issues, often described as "denial of deficit" or "lack of insight"

"This condition can occur in various contexts, including mental illness, where individuals may be unaware of their mental health conditions.

"In essence, anosognosia reflects a cognitive disconnect between a person's symptoms and their acknowledgment of those symptoms."

Housing First Is Not the Key to End Homelessness | Manhattan Institute (2020)

Housing First

"Housing First is a transformative approach to addressing homelessness that prioritizes providing permanent housing without preconditions, emerging in the 1990s as a response to chronic homelessness and the inadequacies of traditional models."

It does seem that Permanent Supportive Housing arose in part as an improvement on the Housing First Model.

Anosognosia & the State of Colorado

BUT . . .

With the Circle Program, the Hickenlooper Administration is Turning A Critical Corner in Honestly Addressing the Staffing Problems @ CMHIP -- That NO State Administration Has Ever Done Before

Researchers and Clinicians ---the issue isn't intelligence --- BUT Patients are getting the short end of the stick

11/3/2025

Val's Take/Conjecture

Researchers around the world are roughly on the same page, and maybe clinicians are too.
BUT Researchers and Clinicians are not on the same page.
And patients living now are paying a big price for that.

One of the biggest problems we have in Mental Health is that Mental Health Clinicians are not:

Immunologists
Gastroenterologists, or
Endocrinologists

But to effectively treat Neuro-Developmental and Psychiatric Disorders we need the expertise of those disciplines.

On the other hand, the effective treatment of a wide range of diseases and disorders with PSYCHIATRIC COMPONENTS need the expertise of Mental Health professionals.

Oklahoma
The Cowman and the Farmer Should Be Friends

Are immunologists, gastroenterologists and endocrinologists anymore on top of the research than mental health professionals --- maybe not.

But we recognize a Public Health Crisis to a degree in Mental Health.

Further, the "DISABILITY" associated with Neuro-Developmental and/or Psychiatric Disorders is often long-term and isn't about INTELLIGENCE --- it's about ENERGY.

Failure to provide sufficient TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE is about ENERGY too.

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Transitional/ Translational Justice Monday