Blog Archives

Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric disorders as Multi-system disorders

3/17/2025

Val's Take/Conjecture

Most of us understand that Down Syndrome is a "MULTI-SYSTEM DISORDER."
Neuro-Developmental Disorders such as Autism, and/or ADHD and Psychiatric Disorders such as Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia and Depression are also MULTI-SYSTEM DISORDERS.
Further, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia and Depression are now recognized as NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS.
Additionally, Down Syndrome, Autism, ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia and Depression are all NEURO-IMMUNE DISORDERS.

Maternal Immune Activation and Schizophrenia–Evidence for an Immune Priming Disorder (2021)

"Schizophrenia is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder affecting around 19. 8 million people worldwide."

Towards a neurodevelopmental model of bipolar disorder: a critical review of trait- and state-related functional neuroimaging in adolescents and young adults (2025)

Minor physical anomalies in schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder and the neurodevelopmental continuum of psychosis (2014)

Psychoneuroimmunology of Mood Disorders (2025)

Abstract

Recent research has shed light on the intricate relationship between mood disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD), and inflammation.

This chapter explores the complex interplay involving immune and metabolic dysfunction in the pathophysiology of these disorders, emphasizing their association with autoimmunity/inflammatory conditions, chronic low-grade systemic inflammation, T cell overactivation, and immunosenescence.

This perspective underscores the notion that MDD [Major Depressive Disorder] and BD [Bipolar Disorder] are not solely brain disorders, highlighting their nature as multi-system conditions.

Brain methylome remodeling selectively regulates neuronal activity genes linking to emotional behaviors in mice exposed to maternal immune activation (2023)

"Thus, MIA [Maternal Immune Activation] induces maladaptive methylome remodeling in brain and selectively regulates neuronal activity gene methylation linking to emotional behavioral abnormalities in offspring."

How we unwittingly put ourselves and others in catch 22s

The Legal System, Trauma-Informed Care and the Living Hell of Catch 22s

Commonalities among Disorders

3/3/2025

Val's Take/Conjecture

A significant percentage of Neuro-Diverse YouTubers were identified "gifted" as kids and subsequently got a LATE DIAGNOSIS of a Neuro-Developmental Disorder in Adulthood.
- May have done very well Academically, and/or
- Had some Special Ability or Talent.
That Adulthood was often a lot different than they expected and often different than what the people around them expected of them.

What researchers are discovering is that Neuro-Diverse "BURNOUT" issues and "MELTDOWN" issues are related to ENERGY ISSUES.

Further, this isn't happening in a VACUUM in which there are nice, neat distinctions between people with Neuro-Developmental Disorders and those without --- this often involves Neuro-Developmental Inflammation and how that impacted one person.

There are many gradations and combinations -- but biomarkers are being identified.

Further, it is not necessarily that hard to recognize associations among Neuro-Developmental, Psychiatric and Neuro-Degenerative Disorders in 2025.

Researchers also recognize Psychiatric Components of other disease and/or disorder issues such as:

Multiple Sclerosis
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)
Type 1 Diabetes
Cancer
Down Syndrome

All the biological components are NOT IDENTICAL --- but some of the biological components are IDENTICAL or SIMILAR.

People with Neuro-Developmental &/or Psychiatric issues are often facing PHYSICAL issues that are not as dramatic as other diseases or disorders but nonetheless relevant and significant.

The need to integrate PHYSICAL HEALTH & MENTAL HEALTH & DEVELOPMENTAL HEALTH is great.

From Neuro-developmental to Neuro-degenerative Disorders: The Vascular Continuum (2021)

Structural and functional integrity of the cerebral vasculature ensures proper brain development and function, as well as healthy aging.

The inability of the brain to store energy makes it exceptionally dependent on an adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients from the blood stream for matching colossal demands of neural and glial cells.

Key vascular features including a dense vasculature, a tightly controlled environment, and the regulation of cerebral blood flow (CBF) all take part in brain health throughout life.

As such, healthy brain development and aging are both ensured by the anatomical and functional interaction between the vascular and nervous systems that are established during brain development and maintained throughout the lifespan.

During critical periods of brain development, vascular networks remodel until they can actively respond to increases in neural activity through neurovascular coupling, which makes the brain particularly vulnerable to neurovascular alterations.

The brain vasculature has been strongly associated with the onset and/or progression of conditions associated with aging, and more recently with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Our understanding of cerebrovascular contributions to neurological disorders is rapidly evolving, and increasing evidence shows that deficits in angiogenesis, CBF [Cerebral Blood Flow] and the blood-brain barrier [BBB] re causally linked to cognitive impairment.

Moreover, it is of utmost curiosity that although neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders express different clinical features at different stages of life, they share similar vascular abnormalities.

In this review, we present an overview of vascular dysfunctions associated with neurodevelopmental:

autism spectrum disorders,
schizophrenia,
Down Syndrome

And neurodegenerative

multiple sclerosis,
Huntington’s,
Parkinson’s, and
Alzheimer’s diseases) disorders,

NEURODiversity Wednesday

Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric disorders as Multi-system disorders

Commonalities among Disorders

Neuro-Diversity
Wednesday

(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)

Archives

Categories

​ NEURODiversity Wednesday

Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric disorders as Multi-system disorders

Commonalities among Disorders

Neuro-DiversityWednesday(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)

Archives

Categories

NEURODiversity Wednesday

Neuro-Diversity
Wednesday

(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)