Your Weekly Dose of #5ThoughtsFriday: A description of what we think is important at BIAMD
  #5Thoughts Friday
10/25/2019
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Here are the 5 things we thought were
worth sharing with you this week:
This Article is part of BIAMD's Original Contact Initiative
Research conducted by the TBI model systems  shows that people who sustain a moderate to severe brain injury have decreased life expectancy, poor health, lower quality of life, and functional limitations.  Having access to services to address medical conditions as well as  social determinants of health  improves outcomes.  

Additionally, the frontal lobe, which controls executive functions such as planning, initiation and problem solving, is the most likely lobe of the brain to be injured when a person sustains a traumatic brain injury making navigating the medical and social service systems even more challenging.  Having a point person, who is knowledgeable about brain injury, to assist people living with a brain injury and their families with connecting to the service and supports that they need can help address issues with access to services and potentially address the gaps in health outcomes. 
Finding and sustaining funding for a statewide case management program for people living with a brain injury continues to be a challenge for many states, including Maryland. Generally, the programs that have been sustained the longest have been funded by State TBI trust funds and grants from the Federal state partnership grants, currently administered by the Administration for Community Living.   

CLICK HERE to read more about case management.
Photo by Sydney Sims on Unsplash
"Often, we have suffered repeated, untreated concussions. I’d like to know what they’ve done to my longer-term health."
The first time my then-partner threw me against a wall, I blamed myself. I was late coming home from work, and I hadn’t even greeted him when I walked through our door. I immediately started complaining about the unwashed dishes and food scraps littering our kitchen. He was angry, shouting at me, and then I felt his arms around me, lifting me slightly. I blacked out when the back of my head hit the kitchen wall.

The nature of abuse is that it escalates, and soon my partner was routinely injuring my head, having learned that my hair would effectively hide any bruises or evidence. Over the course of the last year of our relationship, I probably sustained at least three concussions, though none were formally diagnosed. My previously infrequent migraines became almost daily realities, and my work performance tanked, along with my concentration. Simple tasks became overwhelming. Thoughts slipped from my head before I was able to act on them. I lost my ability to form coherent sentences, and I struggled to find words for even mundane items: train, telephone, exit. 

I am part of what Eve Valera calls an “ ‘invisible’ public health epidemic” of untreated traumatic brain injuries among survivors of intimate partner violence. Valera, an assistant professor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who runs a brain-imaging research lab at Massachusetts General Hospital, estimates that millions of women and people of marginalized genders have suffered from both intimate partner violence and untreated concussions. Yet concussions—a form of traumatic brain injury—are generally viewed as a sports-related problem. Concussion research has focused primarily on the relatively tiny population of men who play professional football.

This patriarchy problem doesn’t just harm survivors of intimate partner violence—it’s also bad for science.

CLICK HERE t o see the side of concussion research still in the shadows.
Photo by  David Clode  on  Unsplash
In the 1950s, several groups of psychiatrists on both sides of the Atlantic performed a series of pioneering studies into the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs. Their work provided preliminary evidence that LSD may be effective in treating alcoholism and various psychiatric conditions, but the substances were soon outlawed in response to the hippie counter-culture movement, and the research was halted.

The moratorium on psychedelic research lasted nearly thirty years. In the 1990s, researchers and others showed a renewed interest in the therapeutic potential of these substances, and today there are dedicated research groups around the world. In April 2019, Imperial College London launched the world’s first Centre for Psychedelic Research, and in September, Johns Hopkins University launched its own for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.

Scientists here and elsewhere are busy studying how psychedelics affect the brain and conducting human clinical trials testing their efficacy as treatments for everything from treatment-resistant depression to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Earlier this year, Robin Carhart-Harris, director of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial, and his colleague Gregory Scott, proposed using psilocybin – the psychoactive ingredient found in ‘magic’ mushrooms – as a treatment for disorders of consciousness. Their proposal raises several ethical issues.

CLICK HERE to examine the newest ethical battle ground in neuroscience.
What We are Reading We Think
You Might FInd Interesting
On November 21, 2010, U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Kyle Carpenter was posted atop a building in violent Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when an enemy grenade skittered toward Kyle and fellow Marine Nick Eufrazio. Without hesitation, Kyle chose a path of selfless heroism that few can imagine. He jumped on the grenade, saving Nick but sacrificing himself. 
 
One of the year’s most anticipated books, Kyle’s remarkable memoir reveals a central truth that will inspire every reader: Life is worth everything we’ve got. It is the story of how one man became a so-called hero who willingly laid down his life for his brother-in-arms—and equally, it is a story of rebirth, of how Kyle battled back from the gravest challenge to forge a life of joyful purpose.

In 2014, Kyle was awarded the nation’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his “singular act of courage” on that rooftop in Afghanistan, an action which had been reviewed exhaustively by the military. Kyle became the youngest living recipient of the award–and only the second living Marine so honored since Vietnam.

CLICK HERE to find out more on the youngest Medal of Honor recipient's story.
5) Quote We Are Contemplating...

"The opposite of bravery is not cowardice but conformity."

Friday, November 15, 2019 8am - 4pm |
800 N Glebe Road Arlington VA 22203
Co-Trainers,
Susan Hahn and Barry Coleman

Get everything you need to run DiSC workshops and debrief individuals and teams. DiSC is the leading personal assessment tool used by over
1 million people every year to improve work productivity, teamwork, and communication.
The DiSC Model of Assessment Equips You To:
• Better understand yourself and others.
• Increase your knowledge of how you
respond to conflict, identify stressors
and how you or others resolve problems.
• Recognize the communication needs
of individuals and team members.
• Learn tips on how to adapt to others’
behavioral styles.
• Identify ways to work through conflict

CLICK HERE for more info.
Have you ever clicked on the beautiful pictures posted at the end of every #5ThoughtsFridays? Try it. You might learn something fun!
Stay Safe. Enjoy the Sun.
HAVE A TERRIFIC WEEKEND. 

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  Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful weekend.