TO DO, #3,
3. Rely on elements of the core story of development to explain what develops, how development happens and what derails development, but use the model of Levelness to specifically address problems in public thinking related to children’s mental health.
Given the public’s lack of understanding of developmental processes, it was not surprising to discover that existing elements of the core story of development improve some aspects of the public’s thinking about child mental health: • Both of the values noted above, Prosperity and Ingenuity, are those that prior FrameWorks research has found to lift support for a variety of early childhood policies.
These same values also serve to shift attitudes toward greater support for child mental health policy by expanding considerations of what is at stake, and should be adopted as orienting themes in communications about child mental health. • Another critical element of the core story is the simplifying model of Brain Architecture, which explains that the interaction of genes and early experiences shapes the developing architecture of the maturing brain.
Various stages of the research reported here found that the metaphor of brain architecture inoculated against some of the unproductive dominant cultural models the public relies on when reasoning about child mental health. The metaphor of a brain’s architecture signals that something material is constructed in the brain, inoculates against deterministic evaluations and can set the stage for expanded notions of the environments and experiences that serve to form that architecture. •
The simplifying model of Toxic Stress, which explains how development can be derailed, also proved fruitful in discussions with ordinary Americans about child mental health. Toxic Stress distinguishes the experience of damaging stress from growth-promoting stress, by explaining that when the body’s stress management systems are activated for prolonged periods the body can release chemicals that are toxic to the brain’s architecture.
In Peer Discourse sessions, FrameWorks found that this notion of Toxic Stress33 was successful in improving informants’ understanding of how stressful environments might affect child mental health outcomes. As O’Neil34 © FrameWorks Institute, 2010 14 explains, the Toxic Stress simplifying model allowed participants to consider how particular types of environments and experiences — exposure to violence, trauma, etc. — could impact mental health outcomes in children, and possibly affect one’s mental health throughout the life course. This aspect of the core story, then, serves to shift thinking away from both mentalist and fatalist default explanations about mental health and illness. •
At the same time, the default cultural models which people use to reason about child mental health specifically are nuanced enough to require specific bridging via a metaphorical model particular to children’s mental health, namely, Leveling.