FASD and Problematic Behaviors: a Neurobiopsychosocial Perspective with Dr. Jerrod Brown
FASD and Problematic Behaviors: a Neurobiopsychosocial Perspective with Dr. Jerrod Brown
August 9, 2023
Kathleen Guire: Hi! Kathleen Guire here. Welcome to this episode of Trauma-Informed Parenting. Dr. Jerrod Brown is back. Welcome, Dr. Jerrod.
Dr. Jerrod Brown: Hey, Kathleen, how are you?
Kathleen: I’m great. Thanks for being on the show again.
Dr. Jerrod: Oh, absolutely. Honored to be here.
Kathleen: Now we have a rather heavy topic but a very important topic, today: FASD and Problematic Behaviors, a Neurobiopsychosocial Perspective. I will let you just take off there, Dr.Jerrod, and give up a little bit of background for this and why it’s important.
Dr. Jerrod: First of all I just wanted to say that what I’m sharing today I’m not intending to scare people or alarm people, but most of the work I do in the area about FASD really focuses through the criminal justice, the forensic psychological lens. Lots of people, lots of groups reach out to me in some cases when they’re working with someone with FASD who may engage in problematic behavior or come in contact with the criminal justice system.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
I do want to stress, too, there are plenty of people who have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder or who are dealing with maybe some sort of other type of neurodevelopmental or neurocognitive disorder who never engage in problematic criminal behavior.
My goal today is maybe to tease apart what could be going on if someone does engage in problematic behavior, irrational behavior, violent/aggressive behavior, or even full-blown criminal
behavior. It’s complex. Kathleen, you mentioned in the title the neuro biopsychosocial perspective for analysis. I find that very helpful when I consult on cases. Any case I consult on I am really guided by a
number of different fields of study. I’ll just point out what these fields of study are.
Prenatal or early childhood trauma
We won’t have time to get into all of these today, but I do a lot of work in the area of Neurocriminology, we’ll talk a little bit about that today. I try to also look through a lens of Neurocounseling.
Psychoneuroimmunology is a big field of study that I do a lot of work in. I always consider the central nervous system. Any kind of prenatal or early childhood trauma. Not just exposure to alcohol or drugs, but what happens in childhood too. Did the person ever sustain a head injury from getting hit in the head or falling off a bike. Or, unfortunately in some cases, domestic violence or child abuse could result in head injuries.
Attachment
I also look through a lens of attachment. Blood sugar dysregulation, the prefrontal cortex, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal access, the gut-brain health access, sleep disorders, alexithymia, and theory of mind are the big areas that I tend to look through. That’s what kind of guides my work.
Now, that’s a lot to chew on if you’ve never heard of these topics. I get that. I’ve been studying these topics for many years, and I’ve really found that those areas that I just listed off have really helped me better understand complex human behavior. It doesn’t necessarily even have to mean criminal behavior, but again, if it’s just behavioral problems in general, learning about those topics has really opened my eyes to maybe why some people do the things they do.
Neurocriminology
If you’ve never heard of the field of Neurocriminology, the reason I find that field very helpful, especially if we’re studying criminal behavior in general, is because that field of study takes into account neuroscience research, what’s going on in the brain.
It also takes into account genetics and behavioral genetics. That does play a role in some cases, so we need to consider family of origin factors, intergenerational transmissions of trauma, epigenetics research, things of that nature.
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Neurocriminology research also takes into account biochemistry and psychophysiology as well. So it’s really, I think, a holistic picture that can help us better understand maybe why people do the things they do. If we start looking at this through kind of a neurobiopsychosocial lens there are some things to consider. Hormonal disruptions are absolutely a factor that we need to take into account because hormonal dysfunctions can be very common among people that are chronically sleep deprived, who don’t eat well. We’ve talked about excessive sugar
consumption. That can throw off one’s hormones.
We also need to be aware of psychophysiology, what is going on physiologically in our bodies.
Nutrition does play a role. I look through that lens as well. Being aware of the Western diet, excessive sugar consumption, energy drink consumption.
Read the rest of the Show Notes Here.
Your Kiddo’s Trauma Bucket Workbook
Special thanks to:
Rich Willey
Doulos Transcription Services
Transforming the spoken word into the printed word
other resources:
Executive Function Trauma-informed Parenting With Dr. Jerrod Brown
Three Things I Wish I Had Known About FASD
Three Things I Wish I Had Known About FASD Part 2- Podcast Show Notes
Three Things I Wish I Had Known About FASD Part 3 Show Notes