Blog Posts

The challenge of Inflammation, including Developmental Inflammation in Psychiatric Disorders

11/22/2021

I'm not against "Coping Skills" or "Resilience" BUT if we have the ability to measure inflammation and have appropriate anti-inflammatory medications --- maybe we should consider using them.

Sources of "NEURO-INFLAMMATION" can look DIFFERENT:

NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION IN UTERO
- Mom had an infection, flu, auto-immune disorder, her own trauma, and/or drugs, alcohol or smoking.
- NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION is probably involved in most NEURO-DIVERSITY and PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS on some level.

CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AND/OR ADVERSITY

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS

ADULT TRAUMA

HIGH ALTITUDE REGIONS may present specific challenges to the person with SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION.
- This needs to be included as a FACTOR in integrated physical and mental health care for PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS.

The OLD FRIENDS HYPOTHESIS along with recent discoveries positing that the "IMMUNE SYSTEM CONTROLS SOCIAL BEHAVIOR" helps us to understand why things like:

TRAUMA
ALTITUDE
ALLERGIES, and even
An Outsized Sensitivity to the Social Environment (Say what?)

---- All are RELATED to the IMMUNE SYSTEM and INCREASED RISK of PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS, highlighting that while some sources of NEURO-INFLAMMATION
are MUNDANE and BORING ---others belong on an episode of DATELINE.

It is SURPRIZING that the IMMUNE SYSTEM is involved in SOCIAL BEHAVIOR.
It seems as though other systems of the body -- NOT JUST THE BRAIN --- have expansive MONITORING MISSIONS and this certainly seems true for the IMMUNE SYSTEM.

It seems to me RELIGION has been an important "OPIATE OF THE PEOPLE" to provide an ESCAPE HATCH from decidedly IMPERFECT SOCIAL ORDERS where SUFFICIENT CHANGE may not come in your LIFETIME.
- If those RELIGIONS don't make sense to us anymore --- we still need an ESCAPE HATCH from the decidedly IMPERFECT SOCIAL ORDER --- if nothing else so we can catch our breath to REFORM it.
- I think the "OLD FRIENDS HYPOTHESIS" helps explain why we are SO SENSITIVE to these issues and it comes back to an OVERLY SENSITIVE IMMUNE SYSTEM if you mesh:
  - Graham Rook at Kings College London with the
  - Research of Jonathan Kipnis while at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

So widespread NEURO-INFLAMMATION is telling us a lot about the HEALTH of the POPULATION -- it's also IRONICALLY telling us a lot about the HEALTH of the SOCIETY.

Keith Morrison of Dateline

Inflammation–

Nature's Way to Efficiently Respond to All Types of Challenges:

Implications for Understanding and Managing “the Epidemic” of Chronic Diseases (2018)

Siloed or singular system approach to disease management is common practice, developing out of traditional medical school education.

Textbooks of medicine describe a huge number of discrete diseases, usually in a systematic fashion following headings like etiology, pathology, investigations, differential diagnoses, and management.

This approach suggests that the body has a multitude of ways to respond to harmful incidences.

However, physiology and systems biology provide evidence that there is a simple mechanism behind this phenotypical variability.

Regardless if an injury or change was caused by trauma, infection, non-communicable disease, autoimmune disorders, or stress, the typical physiological response is:

an increase in blood supply to the area, an increase in white cells into the affected tissue, an increase in phagocytic activity to remove the offending agent, followed by a down-regulation of these mechanisms resulting in healing.

The cascade of inflammation is the body‘s unique mechanism to maintain its integrity in response to macroscopic as well as microscopic injuries.

We hypothesize that chronic disease development and progression are linked to uncontrolled or dysfunctional inflammation to injuries regardless of their nature, physical, environmental, or psychological.

Thus, we aim to reframe the prevailing approach of management of individual diseases into a more integrated systemic approach of treating the “person as a whole,” enhancing the patient experience, ability to a make necessary changes, and maximize overall health and well-being.

The first part of the paper reviews the local immune cascades of pro- and anti-inflammatory regulation and the interconnected feedback loops with neural and psychological pathways.

The second part emphasizes one of nature's principles at work--system design and efficiency.

Continually overwhelming this finely tuned system will result in systemic inflammation allowing chronic diseases to emerge; the pathways of several common conditions are described in detail.

The final part of the paper considers the implications of these understandings for clinical care and explore how this lens could shape the physician-patient encounter and health system redesign.

We conclude that healthcare professionals must advocate for an anti-inflammatory lifestyle at the patient level as well as at the local and national levels to enhance population health and well-being.

[

Val's Note: Advocating for an "anti-inflammatory lifestyle" is fine as far as it goes -- but what are we going to do with respect to NEURO-DIVERSITY (NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL "DISORDERS") and PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS that are largely resulting from DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION and EPIGENETIC CHANGES?

Are we just going to BLAME Mom -- is that the ANSWER?

Further, we have OLYMPIC ATHLETES with NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL & PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS --- If we are not recognizing that the "anti-inflammatory lifestyle" prescription while important is woefully insufficient for NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL & PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS --- we're MISSING THE BOAT, primarily because it has ALREADY SAILED.]

Strengths & Weaknesses ALL OF A PIECE

11/10/2021

University of Toronto Academic and Psychologist Tayyab Rashid's video "What are you good at?" --- is one of our favorites.

In that, Rashid says that STRENGTHS are REAL and not derivative of disorder.
STRENGTHS are REAL --- I would say it is often ALL OF A PIECE.
And that is really the LOGICAL BASIS for Gail Saltz' "The Power of Different"
- BUT the UK video "What Is Neurodiversity?" recognizes that a lot of the CHALLENGE (& POWER) OF DIFFERENT is ironically DEMOGRAPHICS.
  - Everybody has strengths and weaknesses --- BUT they are more clearly visible --- if they are outside the MAJORITY.
  - Further, this isn't STATIC --- OUTLIER STATUS is really based on the DEMOGRAPHICS of the WHOLE --- that can and does change.

More specifically, I think the STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES are related to SIGNIFICANT INFLAMMATION, often DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION.

Giftedness, Neuro-Diversity, Bipolar Disorder and Inflammation

Canadian Psychologist Tayyab Rashid

Psychiatrist and Author Dr. Gail Saltz

The Thorny Problem of Experts ----During a COVID Pandemic and a Global Mental Health Crisis

11/9/2021

On the one hand, EXPERTS provide a seemingly EFFICIENT and EFFECTIVE way to address COMPLEX PROBLEMS.
On the other hand, EXPERTS are NEVER PERFECT because there is NO PERFECT KNOWLEDGE.

Beyond that ----

Of course, INVOLVEMENT takes TIME and ENERGY --- and often a lot of CREATIVITY and INNOVATION in its own right.

AND I think COVEY would also say it takes TRUST --- it is being both CARING and COMPETENT.

Ironically, many people TRUST the CARING NATURE of HEALTH PROFESSIONALS --- its the COMPETENCE they don't TRUST.

Further, when we're talking about COVID VACCINATIONS or MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT --- it is generally not a concern that the Health Professional is falling below a PROFESSIONAL STANDARD OF CARE --- it's a DISTRUST OF THAT STANDARD.

In the case of COVID VACCINATIONS, it got RUSHED by NECESSITY and some people have questions about that.

On the other hand, MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT has been STAGNATING for DECADES and its more recently that PARADIGMS have been shifting in the RESEARCH ---- but the CLINICAL PROFESSION is NOT ON TOP OF THAT and there is seemingly no great PLAN to get them on top of it beyond the 17-year Research to Practice Lag Time we currently have.

THAT'S A BIG PROBLEM.

Getting to the Underlying Biology is A Key to Policy reform

10/30/2021

If we don't provide the UNDERLYING BIOLOGY of these DISORDERS to the PUBLIC--- many people are NOT GOING TO BUY IT.

Our researchers may not have all the BIOLOGICAL ANSWERS, but they have many and more and more all the time.

South Park: Randy Marsh is Powerless Against this Terrible Disease (2021)

Labroots

The reciprocal relationship between cytokine dysregulation and binge alcohol consumption

Riffing off Temple Grandin

10/28/2021

Unlike Temple Grandin -- I am that ABSTRACT THINKER --- who thinks in CATEGORIES and ANOMALIES.

Like Temple --- I don't have a good working memory --- so I'm not trying to remember everything ---- I'm trying to understand the principles behind DEFINITIONAL CATEGORIES and identify LOGICAL or SUBSTANTIVE INCONSISTENCIES or ANOMALIES and RESOLVE THEM.

That brings us to PSYCHIATRIC CATEGORIES, BIOLOGICAL CATEGORIES and LEGAL CATEGORIES --- and they are NOT lining up to DISASTROUS EFFECT.

This SPILLED OVER in 2013 when the then Director of the National Institute of Mental Health publicly declared the DSM 5 lacked scientific validity because it only described clusters of symptoms, not the underlying biology of psychiatric disorders.

I think most lawyers are not aware of this and if they are --- it represents a PANDORA'S BOX --- they are afraid to open.

"Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology connected with the myth of Pandora in Hesiod's Works and Days. He reported that curiosity led her to open a container left in care of her husband, thus releasing physical and emotional curses upon mankind." Wikipedia

For the attorney: Who's Your Expert?

Those guys and gals over there with the SCIENTIFICALLY INVALID DIAGNOSTIC MANUAL

Temple Grandin --- TedxCSU
Educating Different Kinds of Minds

Stanford Professor & Author Dr. Robert Sapolsky

In the meantime, Neuro-Endocrinologist, Author and Stanford Professor Robert Sapolsky --- clarified the issues further --- in ways some people may not be ready for --- providing ALL THOSE EXAMPLES for the BIOLOGICAL BASIS of BEHAVIOR in his 2017 book "Behave."

So the big time philosophical and scientific issues are there:

Intent appears to be BIOLOGICALLY-DRIVEN, and
BIOLOGY / ENVIRONMENT are NOT SEPARATE in the common experience of life.

Before someone gives us ARISTOPHANES "CLOUD AWARD" --- we can do 2 BIG PRACTICAL THINGS to make the current situation much better:

Make major investments in TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH & MEDICINE,
Comply with some of those DISABILITY LAWS & DECISIONS that have been on the books for awhile.

Colorado & Other States Exhausted the Health Care SYSTEM for Psychiatric Disorders Decades Ago

10/20/2021

We estimate Colorado needs an ADDITIONAL Billion $$$ over the next ten years --- an ADDITIONAL 100 Million $$$ a Year to treat Cognitive Disability in this State.

We and the World are in desperate need of BETTER UNDERSTANDINGS and BETTER TREATMENTS.

Some of those BETTER UNDERSTANDINGS are here --- BUT we often haven't SUFFICIENTLY INVESTED in TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH & MEDICINE.

THE DRAMA OF IT ALL

10/16/2021

Black Shakespeare [Explicit] by Finney the Chimney -- Parental Advisory

Former US President Bill Clinton

There are a lot of people at the TOP and BOTTOM of this SOCIETY with seemingly greater than average EMOTIONAL REGULATION PROBLEMS and maybe greater DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION.

How that is playing out would make SHAKESPEARE PROUD --- BUT it is not good for the SOCIETY or the INDIVIDUALS within it.

Former US President Donald Trump

World Mental Health Day ---We'd Like to See World Translational Research & Medicine Day

10/11/2021

You'd think we would be THRILLED with the THEME of WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2021 --- SCALE UP Mental Health Services at ALL LEVELS.

Isn't that what we say almost everyday on this website --- SCALE UP HOUSING, SERVICES and PLACEMENTS.

BUT ----

Bringing Mental Health Services to SCALE at ALL LEVELS is going to BANKRUPT most governments without better CONCEPTUALIZATIONS, DIAGNOSTICS & TREATMENTS.

A BIG PART of that is MORE BASIC RESEARCH . . . BUT a surprising amount of that work is TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH and MEDICINE based on RESEARCH we already have.

Textbook of Immunopsychiatry

Psycho Neuro Endocrine Immunology and the Science of Integrated Care

The PRACTICALITIES of "INTEGRATED CARE"

It takes a lot of TIME, ENERGY & EFFORT to "INTEGRATE" complicated bodies of KNOWLEDGE --- even if those BODIES of KNOWLEDGE are RELATED.

BUT what if ---- we SPEED IT UP --- and we KEEP SPEEDING IT UP without sufficient provision to keep CLINICIANS on top of this RESEARCH and "INTEGRATE" all this complicated information.

I Love Lucy -- "Job Switching" (1952)

Well, you end up with a BIG MESS in which RESEARCHERS are running FAR AHEAD of CLINICIANS --- and estimates are it will take CLINICIANS 17 to 20 years to catch up.

BUT if the SPEED KEEPS INCREASING --- the LEGITIMACY of the PROFESSION is called into question more and more.

It is in the INTERESTS of EVERYONE to DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH & MEDICINE EFFORTS for PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS.

The Journal of Translational Immunology

"The Immune System and Psychiatric Disease: A Basic Science Perspective" (2019)

Divergence & Equality

9/26/2021

"Sensitivity to the Environment" is driving some of our BIGGEST perceived WEAKNESSES & STRENGTHS

That SENSITIVITY is NOT just related to the BRAIN --- It includes:
- The Immune System
- The Microbiome, and
- The Endocrine System

If I'm living in a HIERARCHICAL SOCIETY and "SPECIALNESS CULTURE" ---- I have to be AGGRESSIVE to SURVIVE.

PILE on some HISTORICAL and not so HISTORICAL In Groups and Out GROUPS and the need for AGGRESSION INCREASES
BUT AGGRESSION COMES with "AGGRESSION CELLS."
While Males may have more problems with this, MEAN GIRLS are REAL.

BUT we don't know how to STEP OUT of our HIERARCHICAL SOCIETY and SPECIALNESS CULTURE ---- HOW COULD YOU EVEN DO IT?

When we're talking about moving on down the line in our REFORM EFFORTS --- part of that is:

INTEGRATING the insights of JOHANN HARI and others regarding the SOCIAL ASPECTS of PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS
with some of the new insights regarding PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS and the IMMUNE SYSTEM and other systems of the body.

A lot of NEURO-DIVERSE people are coming to the party with some BIG STRENGTHS and LACKING SOME "EASY" EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING ABILITIES -- more accurately they are often trying to manage greater SENSORY and INFORMATION PROCESSING DEMANDS.

NEURO-DIVERSE People are DRIVING much of the HIERARCHY in our Society -- If they get to the top --- it is very hard to effectively question or address their WEAKNESSES.

If they are at the BOTTOM, their STRENGTHS are RARELY RECOGNIZED.

That is one of a number of drivers of AGGRESSION at the TOP and BOTTOM of this Society.

Our SOCIETY is certainly LESS AGGRESSIVE / VIOLENT than the MIDDLE AGES, but it isn't quite yet the SOCIETY of PROBLEM-SOLVERS it could be.

"Equality" became a dominant idea in the "Enlightenment" and certainly our Founding Fathers were greatly influenced by ideas of the "Enlightenment" and "Equality Under the Law."

BUT the truth is we've had a hard time believing in "EQUALITY" in an absolute sense because we're not all IDENTICAL or CLONES.

Further and perhaps even more importantly, taking the time, effort and resources to UNDERSTAND those NOT ALL CLONES --- is often perceived as an UNDUE HARDSHIP.

If we're not taking the time to UNDERSTAND a person's NATURAL STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES --- we're generally just slapping on the CLONE VERSION of that and hoping it FITS WELL ENOUGH.

A fair amount of the time that does work, people may feel things don't fit as well as they could ---- BUT it's not necessarily precipitating an "EXISTENTIAL CRISIS."

BUT at some point -- If things don't fit well enough--- that will precipitate an "EXISTENTIAL CRISIS."

In a lot of ways, this is about PRO LIFE and what that means over the course of the LIFE SPAN and over the BREADTH of the SOCIETY.

Photo Credit: theconversation.com

Towards a More Balanced View of "Giftedness" and "Talent"

9/24/2021

"MIXED BAGS" is one of Orchid's Themes.

Some of the things that are driving the EXTREMES of how we treat "GIFTEDNESS" and "TALENT" in this Society:

We haven't had a good understanding of the BIOLOGY
We haven't had a good understanding of the WEAKNESSES that often come along with "GIFTEDNESS" and "TALENT"
- Executive Functioning is surprisingly one of those WEAKNESSES
We haven't had a good understanding of some of the HEALTH PROBLEMS that can come along with "GIFTEDNESS" and "TALENT" --- that are often related to DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION.
- PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS are related to DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION
- PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS and AUTO-IMMUNE DISORDERS are more common among people identified as "GIFTED" and "TALENTED"

A SOCIETAL Misunderstanding of what it means to be "GIFTED" or "TALENTED"

 can lead and generally does lead to a PERSONAL MISUNDERSTANDING of what it means to be "GIFTED" and "TALENTED"
SOCIETAL PRE-REQUISITES for "EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING" --- PRIOR to the EXERICISE of those BIG TIME STRENGTHS
- Can often lead to or exacerbate mental health issues.
- Nobody's saying deny reality --- but let's work on CREATIVE WORK-AROUNDS & ACCOMMODATIONS --- rather than FAIL TO DEVELOP THOSE STRENGTHS.

"Giftedness" is now recognized as part of "NEURO-DIVERSITY." --- how many doctors and lawyers view themselves as "GIFTED" but not necessarily "NEURO-DIVERSE."

"Impostor Syndrome" often mentioned by CELEBRITIES --- is now being openly discussed by the LEGAL PROFESSION.

On the other hand, if you are "GIFTED" and at the BOTTOM of this SOCIETY --- your weaknesses may have been MORE THAN RECOGNIZED --- but NOT YOUR GIFTS & TALENTS --- and that is often MAJOR LEAGUE STRESS for someone who already has SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION.

Former President Bill Clinton

Former President Donald Trump

We're accommodating a lot of people at the TOP for EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING CHALLENGES --

We Need to Make Accommodations Across the Board, AND
Foster a MORE BALANCED VIEW of STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES.

<<Previous

Forward>>