Thread by @JamesThrot

I’m afraid this isn’t cut and dry at all 🧵.

First of all, damage/trauma to the brain can actually cause people to be more prone to sociopathic behaviour & even criminality.

The frontal lobe (FL) is responsible for the execution of empathy, hence diminishing empathy if damaged.

https://twitter.com/mo_journeys/status/1854268869822517494

The FL is responsible for emotional regulation, incl anxiety/fear & hostility.

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is involved in decision making, moral competency/behaviour & evaluating risk.

Damage affects such functions & can make people more vulnerable to gullibility

In layman’s terms this means such damage can remap your moral compass. Things that once crossed a line for you no longer will.

Combined with a tendency to be more gullible, you’d be more likely to believe lies, even without evidence.

i.e. more likely to succumb to scamming.

This is nothing new. Patients with dementia (incl early stages), for example, are in the highest risk category for becoming victims to scams.

Those w/dementia can often become aggressive, socially inappropriate and hostile towards strangers, including discriminatory behaviour.

The FL is the key to your entire personality & how you see the world.

It’s responsible for reasoning & judgement, awareness, planning and organisation.

The vmPFC is the part of the brain that controls belief & doubt.

The inability to doubt and propaganda do not mix well.

Furthermore, such damage can lead to behaviour and/or dramatic personality changes, such as swearing, stealing, increased interest in sex, or a deterioration in personal hygiene habits.

As well as socially inappropriate/impulsive/repetitive behaviours & loss of inhibition.

Disinhibition = trouble controlling yourself. Behaving in socially unacceptable ways, becoming increasingly selfish.

Insensitive comments about someone's appearance, making sexual gestures in public, staring at strangers, being verbally/physically aggressive are all possible.

FL damage can increase compulsive behaviour, including eating, smoking, alcohol drinking etc.

It can even change your food preferences all together, so you no longer enjoy the food you once did. Poor table manners could also be observed.

This is extremely complex/multifaceted.

A final few points.

Such damage can cause difficulty with problem solving and needing to be told what to do, along with a shortened attention span & becoming easily distracted.

Rigid & inflexible thinking and losing the ability to understand abstract ideas are also possible.

Regarding criminality, this can manifest itself as shoplifting, running stop/red lights, trespassing, public urination etc.

It can also lead to new onset sex offences including indecent exposure, sexually inappropriate comments & unwanted sexual advances.

This thread is not conjecture, nor ableist. We know this can happen with brain damage. The medical literature is available to research.

Ask yourself again, could brain damage & the resulting potential behaviour/cognitive shifts influence an individual’s political outlook?

By the way, SARS-CoV-2 damages the Frontal Lobe.

@bmj_company extract in 1st image ⬇️

Reminder: this thread isn’t an exhaustive list of symptoms.

And it’s not to say that any/all of the above will happen. But all are possible, and in varying degrees (subtle to severe).

END