Autism is increasing at an alarming rate, according to Autism Society Canada, and may have doubled in the past decade. About 105,000 Canadians have an autistic or other developmental disorder, and 3,000 new cases were diagnosed in Canada in 2002. Statistics from school boards in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Quebec show an average increase in autism cases of 63 per cent over the last two years. Experts see no clear reason for the increase. The answer appears invisible only because it’s too close for us to recognize it.
Autism is a disorder of development, characterized by impairments in interpersonal and social interaction and communication, along with rigidly repetitive and apparently purposeless behaviors such as tics. Genes are the usual suspects cited by researchers. However, the gene pool does not change so rapidly that it could even remotely account for the epidemic in autism and its related disorders. Nor does heightened awareness of the condition provide a clue. Although there was a nearly 300-per-cent rise in autism cases in California between 1987 and 1998, a major study at the UC Davis Medical School in 2002 found that the increase was real and not due to statistical factors.
What, then, is happening to so many of our children?
In a word, it’s a matter of connection. On the neuroanatomical level, the brains of children with autism have reduced connections between important emotional centres and other brain regions. Psychologically, the autistic child lives in a world of his own, largely isolated from emotional contact with those who love him.
Such disconnect, though to lesser degrees, is also a feature of the many other developmental disorders now afflicting burgeoning numbers of children, including Asperger’s syndrome, Tourette’s and attention-deficit disorder. We all know the frustration, and even rage, we can experience when we make a phone call and instead of getting a responsive human being, we are greeted by a mechanical recorded menu. Such frustrated rage at the disconnect is the constant emotional realm of the autistic child.
The physiology of brain development can no more be understood in isolation from the environment than we can explain a flower’s growth without reference to soil conditions or climate. Even more than the flowering plant, the human brain develops in interaction with the environment. Genes, while important in their own right, are activated or turned off by external triggers.
Ninety per cent of brain development occurs after birth, during the first two or three years of life. It is during this time that the genetic material is triggered to express itself in healthy or in disordered ways.
Input from the nurturing environment heavily influences the chemistry of the brain, the growth and interconnections of neurons, or nerve cells, and the development and interconnectedness of brain regions. The most crucial of these inputs are the subtle and often unconscious emotional interactions between the infant and his caregivers. To comprehend what is happening to the brains of children, we need to look at what has happened to the child-rearing milieu over the past few decades.
Fewer children today have the luxury of being born into the non-stressed, emotionally balanced and nurturing environments that the optimal biological development of the human brain requires.
Parents of children with autism and other disorders do not love their children any less than other parents; they are not less skilled or devoted to the parenting task. To explain the explosion in childhood disorders we need to look to broad social factors, not to individual parental failure.
Throughout human evolution, children have been reared in the context of strong emotional relationships, in what may be called the “attachment village.” In tribe, clan, village, community, neighbourhood and in the clasp of the extended family, children were assured of the nurturing influences necessary for healthy brain development.
That emotional nexus is, with catastrophic rapidity, disappearing from our lives. Tribe, clan, village, community are things of the past. We are less and less connected to our neighbours, extended family or fellow workers, even to our own spouses.
Recent economic, social and cultural changes mean the family is functionally less and less intact. Parents are increasingly stressed and isolated. If the connections in our children’s brains are not as developed as they ought to be, it’s because the social connections on which they depend have been greatly weakened.
On the positive side, the human brain retains a capacity for development throughout childhood and beyond. Emotional connection is the key. The greatest successes in the treatment of autism rely on building and maintaining a secure and powerful emotional relationship with the child.
56 thoughts on “Autism Is The Child Of Social Disconnection”
I’d love to hear more from you on this topic or to be pointed in a direction of what you deem to be worthy literature on the subject.
Hello,
I see families where there is a lot of connection, yet still social disorders develop.
Have you considered that too much (of a certain kind of) connection can play a part in developing these social disorders? The parent who constantly connects, engulfs and overprotects the child does not allow the child to learn how experience the world on his own terms.
This undermines the connection the child develops with himself. In this way severe anxiety can develop in a environment where parents protect, enable and disempower their own children, if only inadvertently.
The intent is to be a good parent, but no resilience is being built.
It is hard to detect with attentive parents, because it looks as if they are very present and are doing all the right things.
What do you think?
This is a very interesting perspective. I’ve recently started to suspect my son may be on the spectrum and came to Dr Mate’s site because his perspective on disorders, illness and diseases ring completely true to me.
His explanation above doesn’t describe the parenting we’ve done with our son though. But your description totally does. I’ve had depression and anxiety almost since he was born and I’ve known that the anxiety (much as I’ve tried to manage it) would be transferred to him in some way.
But your description of how I have perhaps prevented him from being able to make sense of the world, created anxiety and disempowerment by being too present, too keen to connect, essentially engulfing him, makes 100% sense.
I can work with that. Thanks so much.
Thats because you’re autistic aswell.
It seems Dr Mate has not combined his research with neurodiversity.
I hope you haven’t stopped giving you child the connection they need
No, no such thing as too much connectivity
I get completely what you mean. I’d suggest to differentiate some definitions. What you write about is overprotection, limitation, clinging. It is top down, hierarchy, dictated from parent to child adjusted to mainly the needs of the parent (e.g. to not feel the fear of feeling overwhelmed when the child cries and not having learned nor being able to handle their own parent feelings…). Even attachement is not used so much anymore in newer, more reflective sources.
On the other hand connection as talked about in those kind of sources like Gabor Maté, means connection on the same level between child and parent. It means seeing the child for whom they are, for their fears (not ours), for their strenghts, for their capacities, for their struggles. This is really hard to do for most of us who have not experiences anything similar ourselves.
I’ll give you some examples: Child has already learned to climb stairs: I do not physically hold their body, but stand behind them to only catch them if they should lose balance. Same for all the emotional situations: I do not remove all possible sources of sadness or anger beforehead (oh, how exhausting that would be anyway!) I am their save harbour to give them the safe space they need to feel all of their emotions and to let them out whenever they need to, so that emotions don’t get stuck unresolved in the specific brain parts. Which is why certain parents cling. As they probably did not feel supported or safe enough when they felt sad or angry or… they most likely have those emotions stuck in their Amygdala and have some fear connected to those type of emotions, why they try do do everything to protect (actually not their child but) themselves from feeling those stuck emotions again. As their brain has saved those emotions as “impossible to handle”.
So as you suggest it should be the aim of parents to always strengthen that two way connection which strongly includes the perspective and developmental needs of the child. This means to support and to be there as their save haven and at the same time give the space needed to make experiences “on their own”, but not “alone” or “lonely”. It is indeed the balance between connection and autonomy that is important.
This makes sense to me from my own memories of being a child and how I was parented by my anxious mother. Also I know my mother followed a strict feed at certain intervals only. It starts to explain my disconnection from self and autism diagnosis as an adult after years of not knowing who I am and anxiety and depression.
This doesn’t explain the sudden onset that coincides with the social and economic changes in culture. The parental behavior you describe has always been present. It may create other behaviors, but it doesn’t seem to match ASD. When we factor in that most children are raised with less family present now due to everyone having jobs, varying schedules, and the amount of time in front screens and not being connected to nurturing, communicating family members we can see the timeline matches quite well with the societal factors that Mate describes.
I agree the increase in rates of autism are largely societal. However parents are *also* to blame if they have birthed a child into the world and do not offer that child a safe and nurturing emotional environment. Who else is?
I’m autistic. My parents love me and have never emotionally or physically abused me. They gave me so many gifts and often times spoilt me. However they were both unemployed. The house I grew up in was covered in cockroaches as it was a decaying house built in 1958. I didn’t know food could actually taste nice until I learnt to cook for myself.
But my parents exterior of niceness was then used to gaslight me when I shared my feelings of insecurity. As Gabor explained, I feel like everyone is quite robotic. I was stonewalled from emotional connect growing up because to do so would threaten their own self-worth. Their favorite phrase was “not now”.
The single most important thing for a child’s development is a safe home to grow up in. My parents lives were also difficult growing up. Their own parent’s also neglected them. That did not absolve them from making better choices, and it doesn’t absolve me either.
I believe, as the article outlines, a BIG problem in our Western culture is the loss of a loving & supportive tribe. 2 parents can not make up for a whole tribe of caring elders, aunts, uncle, siblings, cousins & friends living together & even more so the broken Mum/Dad divorce. But I also strongly believe the current EXPLOSION of Autism is connected to way too many vaccinations in their early years.
…but what you describe (“overconnection” or obsessive overenvelopment), insofar as it’s an unhealthy compensation, is just as damaging. Parents who are overprotective are acting from their own anxieties, so how could that not have a negative effect on children?
I think we must also look at the chemical environment in which we live, grow and develop, and the fact is that there are many untested chemicals in the environment of the developed world. Neurotoxins have been in common use as pesticides, and pesticide residue has become commonplace. Endocrine disruptors are commonplace now–and we humans are no more resistant than are the pests we have been eliminating. More testing and banning of dangerous profitable chemicals are in order.
My mother was psychotic at my birth & I believe something in me sensed that she was incapable. My father (1927-1984) an old school Tweed suit GP once wondered if he was ‘a bit autistic.
I believe nature eventually triumphs where there is no nurture. The trick is not to kill yourself before you realise not to ascribe to the widely held view that family & friends are your only hope. Nature can triumph (one day) this is achievable
Wow! Please elaborate on your story.
I think being Autistic is just a different way of being in the world, that was once accepted and valued, but our culture and societies no longer have a place or use for. It is not an epidemic. The world has become far more polluted by sound, vibrations, light, and movement than ever before. Autistics experience the world in a very sensory oriented and sensory heightened way. And the fabric and organization in our culture of families, extended families, tribes, villages is broken and there is no longer a place for people who function this way (with these gifts). If an individual is forced to endure constant vestibular, auditory, visual over stimulation, forced to pretend to function like a non-Autistic and told how Autistics are instead of asked how they are or given an opportunity to communicate their experience in their own way, they are then perceived as having behavior problems, social/emotional delay, meltdowns, tantrums. Of course you that is what you will get from them.
Monica! Yes!
I completely feel the same way.
I love being neurodivergent and I see it as an evolutionary advantage to have some members of community in the spectrum.
We can focus so deeply on certain topics of interest; we can look beyond antiquated social assumptions and question them for justice and fairness.
The world is loud, busy, cluttered and so far removed from natural cycles that it is aggressive for ND folks. But it is not a disease or disorder.
I live a beautiful life by listening to my authentic body and following my own rhythm. I had to learn by recognising patterns and nurturing my gifts. I had to find ways to contain my experience and not get flooded by the wider world.
It is possible to thrive as an autistic person and to offer our incredible gifts and talents back to the world.
I do not feel it’s scientifically accurate to call neurodivergence a disorder.
I think all people can experience suffering and trauma. Especially if they are forced to be something that they are not. It is possible to live a vibrant, balanced life without any medical conditions as an autistic person. This needs to be discussed also.
There are advantages to having to having a sensitive brain processing style and lack of confirming to social or cultural assumptions. These advantages allow us to be objective and critical of human patterns that may need change.
Without our awareness, these patterns may go unseen and unchanged. Autistic people have always existed and they have helped to the world change by speaking up. We sense what is off earlier than neurotypicals do.
It is crucial that we remain authentic and deeply nurture our gifts. There is nothing wrong with us—and yet as discussed in this thread there is plenty ‘wrong’ with the modern day world as far as tribe, village and connection goes.
We are the canaries in the mine feeling the pressure cooker. The world needs to listen to kids flapping, crying. They are offering direct feedback about what is not working for everyone.
Thanks for reading.
Great answer! Yes, those on the spectrum tend to really think for themselves and are not wired for certain unhealthy social games or following the crowd. That can definitely be a positive but can also come back to bite them. It can take a lot of courage and struggle to be truly authentic as a fundamentally different person from the majority of people around you.
“We are the canaries in the mine feeling the pressure cooker. The world needs to listen to kids flapping, crying. They are offering direct feedback about what is not working for everyone.” – love this!
I’d love to hear Dr. Mate’s thoughts on this! Interesting! I love reading other peoples’ thoughts (now that I discovered they are there if you tap on ‘reply’).
Thank you Monica! I’m Autistic. I think of meltdowns as zoochosis. Some animals are more prone to zoochosis in captivity.
Can you please hook up with some good autistic advocates and fix you’re broken and damaging view of autism.
Your work is otherwise valuable but you miss the mark catastrophically on autism.
Try Autism is a human variation that’s always been around but is increasingly understood and therefore identified.
Being autistic in a neurotypical world is traumatic.
That’s where you can join the conversation while also staying in your lane.
Thank you, I agree with you.
As an academic, his lane is where ever he chooses to research. Being traumatized makes normal life triggering. What evidence do you have that autism ‘has always bee around’?
I believe that Gabor Mate is acting in good faith. He is very open to discussion, and so I would not assume that he has excluded autistic people from the discussion, but as you have pointed out, it is a very contentious issue. Advocates are not intellectuals, they are activists who engage in a culture war.
I thought I was autistic because I met every single criteria (as does my father), read the books, joined the online communities. The symptoms of autism and Flight CPTSD are identical, yet no body wants to acknowledge it because it’s easier to digest and the autism identity is self-affirming.
Yes, I also worry that sometimes we are deflecting away from trauma. I don’t think this is the case with everyone but seems true for some.
This har probably to do with hightned levels of dopamine and serotonine as there are explosive use of SSRI drugs beeing used for so many things. Interesting article and references. I must say that its very important to grasp the complexities that these issues and imbalances are related to.
We’re not blaming the parents, yet hey, the family is breaking down so yeah, let’s blame the parents…
Autism numbers are rising because it is being understood and recognised – and here’s a thing – after countless decades, the emphasis on gendering it as affecting AMAB only has been thoroughly debunked. So of course numbers are increasing.
As for the rest of this outdated, uninformed and offensive claptrap, try talking to some actually autistic people.
I find it interesting this is your take on autism. You reach the right conclusion at the end of this short piece, that autistic people possess the same capacity for emotional engagement as anyone, and therefore being emotionally caring is the primary method of helping autistic people–but you get there in this roundabout, genetic-heavy methodology which just seems to counteract all lived experience of autism as well as, more troubling, most of your own theories of how mental health functions. I’d be intrigued to see why you are taking this medicalised avenue here, but not with anything else…
I think the point of this article may not be to try and hypothesise a causative agent for the development of autism, but perhaps to try and determine why autistic people often are subject so much struggle and difficulty in their childhood (which often continues into adulthood). It seems to me that the message is that autistic children that are raised without the ‘village’ or by parents who are subject to intense stress or trauma themselves may not get the support they need to develop confidence and an understanding of themselves – and therefore go on to suffer for longer with unmanaged or badly managed symptoms in childhood and a lack of coping strategies and social support as adults. Obviously this is different for everyone and impacted by the level of support a person requires. I still think this article presents an good insight into how the brain development of an autistic baby/child would be impacted by an unstable or stressful home life.
An autism diagnosis opens the door for special treatment and accomodations, so the diagnosis is an asset. I know this because my son has been diagnosed with mild to moderate autism. Thus parents have every incentive to take their kids to clinics that are known to hand out the diagnosis. What do you expect? This may or may not be the reason for the explosion in reported cases, but to discuss the issue and leave out that obvious factor is peculiar.
Why do you conclude that factor to have been left out? Maybe that above mentioned study could give you some answers?
“Nor does heightened awareness of the condition provide a clue. Although there was a nearly 300-per-cent rise in autism cases in California between 1987 and 1998, a major study at the UC Davis Medical School in 2002 found that the increase was real and not due to statistical factors.”
absolutely
greed is an important point here
An autism diagnosis is an asset in today’s world. I know this because my son has been diagnosed with mild to moderate autism, which gives him the legal right to one on one instruction in the school system. Clinics that give out the diagnosis liberally attract customers because the diagnosis is an asset. So what do you expect?
This may or may not contribute to the explosion in reported cases, but I think it is part of any reasonable discussion.
It’s not necessarily that autism rates have dramatically increased. Autism awareness has made a big leap in recent years and some who would have gone undiagnosed are now getting diagnosed, especially those that don’t fit a stereotypical presentation of autism. But societal changes are an interesting theory which could contribute. If one has less than ideal parental figures and are not regularly exposed to anyone else, or makes connections with other adults, that spells trouble. Then the struggles they are predisposed to can really hold them back and it can be challenging progressing in life being underdeveloped in certain ways. There is also more to autism than disconnection…for example, there are sensory sensitivities, processing sensitivities and differences, differences in how language is processed and used…
Really like gabor mates work but on this topic i feel a bit confused. Since my daughter is diagnosed with Autism on her 19th i learn a lot about her and myself and my father as well. Coming from a warm nice good connected family we are all suffering with some autismthings. Now we more learn how to live in this world and accept what we are good at and what not is helping a lot. The expectations of the social world around us that we all have to be and act the same makes it difficult. I really think something in the genes plays a role and environment can be helpful or harmful.
Hello Danielle.
Since I’m very interested in learning more about autism, I’m happy I fell on the right place. I think Dr. Mate has great experience in what he declares and writes in his book, but reading the many autistic people here, this is knowledge given freely from the source.
I treat people with many issues but I really want to focus on autistic children’s moms. I believe much comes from when the child is being formed in mother’s womb. What she went thru is felt by the child, emotions, outer vibrations and much more is absorbed by the child.
In many cases, while treating moms the child gets calmer and positive reactions happen. The reactions happen to the whole family and, as the mind reaches a more peaceful state, consciousness widens and a deeper understanding/connection is noticeable in the family.
I’ve had great results in similar cases.
I think the research I’ve seen is suggesting that both prevalence and awareness are increasing.
The interplay between autism and trauma is super interesting and seemingly contentious – which to me makes it important to study more; and, for people to deeply respect diverging (see what I did there) opinions.
I believe that saying trauma causes ASD would be overly simplistic, but saying trauma has no role would be too. In terms of intergenerational societal and genetic effects, I tend to align with lots of Dr Maté’s thinking – although would like to hear more specifically regarding ASD.
I have an ASD diagnosis and suspected ADHD. I think we have to be sensitive to validate those who have experienced trauma with no ASD/ADHD diagnosis, those who have some relationship with ASD/ADHD, and everything in between.
I see lots of discourse around autism online that it is “innate” or “inherited”, to me this is susceptible to many challenges, particularly given the overlap between eg PTSD and ASD
Eg, would that mean ASD is purely genetic? Current research says no.
In which case, what about some level of in-utero impact? If that’s possible, shouldn’t that be classed as trauma? Or is that how some would define ‘innate’, because someone is ‘born that way’?
I align with the evidence that humans do much of their neurodevelopment outside the womb so it’s a really interesting issue. From what point should we say someone has neurodevelopmental differences? Or does it matter, and therefore how should we frame the believed causes of neurodevelopmental diagnoses?
I’d love to see more research in this area and for us to learn to help others in a person-first way, before labels and factions. And I think all scientific theories and labels should be able to be reimagined and improved using better evidence, creativity and inclusivity – that’s progress.
I know you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings Gabor, but blaming autism rise on “society” makes individuals helpless because how can they change a society. Be blunt, tell the truth that it is the parents fault for not establishing a secure and healthy attachment to their child. At least then individuals have the power to change.
I always knew the refrigerator parent idea had some truth to it, but some parents just can’t handle the truth. All parents wound their children, especially in this day and age. Hopefully the wounding can be healed. Unfortunately autism is usually one that cannot.
This is rife with factual inaccuracies. It’s incredibly misrepresentative of the facts and experience of being autistic. It’s ableist nonsense. How ironic that you claim your work is compassion meets science. This is neither. Mostly I’m commenting to confirm critical comments get deleted.
1000% agreed – reading this was traumatic for me as an autistic person. Autism Speaks levels of ableist.
I know how stressed I am and I know how difficult I have experienced the past two years since my sons birth. It makes sense, despite entering motherhood with high hopes that I would stop the inter generational trauma by being the best mum ever. My plan was co-sleep, breastfeed, not put my child into daycare, essentially connection + and prioritise my son regardless of the expense or additional stress this might create for me. In addition to my own significant trauma, my husbands family’s dysfunction, my own social isolation, financial insecurity and the impact of all of this on my own unstable mental health, in retrospect my plan does not appear to be the brightest and only compounded the creation of an environment resulting in my son’s diagnosis. Daycare may not have been the best for attachment and connection but caring for my son not only in social isolation but with his family being so unkind to me was always going to be impossible for me. To think all that hard work and I created what I was most afraid of.
I’m feel somewhat heartened by the article mentioned that this is not fixed and there is some hope as he is still young.
Hi Molly, I totally relate to your experience. I am 43, self diagnosed cptsd due to a traumatic childhood and my now 13yr old recently screened for ASD and inattentive ADHD. We also know for a fact that he’s gifted. I tried to do the same as you I took time off, didn’t work for 10 years so that I could devote as much time to him as possible but I had terrible anxiety as a first time parent and the relationship between my husband and myself has struggled. My husband also works away from home a lot so my son and I were socially isolated a lot of the time. We had friends when he was growing up but I always noticed he was different from his peers. Slower to warm up and more sensitive to other kids crying and lots of noise. He also preferred to play alone that to play with other kids. I wasn’t outwardly abusive or neglectful as a parent like my parents were to me but I do feel that I was probably struggling a lot on the inside and that no doubt would have impacted my parenting. I threw out all the books that told me to let himself cry himeself to sleep and to feed on a schedule. I fed and co slept with him when as needed and wore him on me a lot of the time as he was a fussy baby and hard to settle. At the end of the day I do wonder though if I have ASD because of my 3 other siblings, I’m only one of two who seems to be struggling as an adult. I mean, my sister was raised in the same environment as me and she has not trouble making friends or holding down work like I do. I mean I was parentified and verbally abused by my Dad as a child but shouldn’t we all have experienced some degree of complex trauma if we all grew up in the same environment. This is the only instance where I feel a diagnosis of ASD or ADHD may come down more to nature than nurture but again, I’m no expert here. Just offering my experience.
Mr. Mate is on to something. There is research showing that eye contact prepares the brain for sharing mental states with others and sets the foundation for social interaction. I don’t believe it’s purely coincidental that avoiding eye contact is one of the main symptoms of autism.
It’s possible that lack of attunement during a critical period causes areas in the brain to fail to develop, which in turn is what causes autism. The question is, is this the whole story or is there more to it? And is it ALWAYS caused by the parent? I have heard cases of infants refusing to look at their mother since day one, or of babies so hypersensitive that looking at mother was uncomfortably stimulating, so they’d actively avoid it. It would be very difficult to make eye contact with an infant or baby like that, no matter how calm and present the mother is.
I hope research will continue to search for a way to prevent autism. My only concern is that these days any mention of a potential cure gets you called an “ableist” and attacked. Autism is not a variant of normal human development and we do no one any favors pretending that it is.
If you want autism to define who you are, you absolutely have that right. But it’s wrong to weaponize your autistic identity to silence viewpoints you don’t agree with — “You make me feel bad about myself, so shut up.” When you make ANYTHING a part of your identity, you can no longer honestly engage with it because your sense of self is now contingent upon it. Any criticism of it becomes a perceived direct attack on you. It’s no way to live.
Oh so the sensitive babies aren’t normal humans?
So autism is bad or wrong then? Are you autistic? I love how neurotypical people enjoy benefitting from the great artistic and scientific contributions of autistics and then turn around and say they wish they didn’t exist or they hope their kind gets wiped out completely in the future. Do you think neurotypical people could sit in a room for 18 hours a day and forget they have a body and create a life-saving COVID vaccine? Not a chance. That’s called hyperfocus, and it’s a super power. What if your way of being, or wanting to make eye contact, was deemed “inappropriate” and you read a post saying you hope that people like you eventually were “cured” of needing to make eye contact? Wouldn’t feel great, would it? Autistics are valid and valuable AS THEY ARE. And we don’t need to be saved by intellectually boring neurotypicals who can’t see past their own limited viewpoint. The world is better when differences are embraced not shunned. Do better because your views hurt and traumatize autistic people.
I hope research continues to search for ways to address the challenges of neurotypicality. My only concern is that these days, any mention of the need to “cure” neurotypical behavior gets you labeled as dismissive or attacked. Neurotypicality often results in a lack of diverse thinking, rigid social norms, basic problem-solving abilities, and a narrow acceptance of what is considered “normal.” Pretending that these traits are universal or ideal doesn’t benefit anyone. It’s important to recognize that neurotypicality can lead to harmful groupthink, intolerance of difference, and an inability to fully embrace the variety of human experiences. I hope they one day find a cure for being typical. Until then, you have my sympathy. Maybe the microplastics have caused your neurotypicality? Only the science gurus can know for sure. Bless your heart.
This is what happens when experts believe their expertise makes them default experts in other specialisms. Your theory doesn’t fit the prevailing body of best practice research out there. Autism is a genetic condition. Autistic people socialise differently and do not tend to thrive in neurotypical social patterns and environments, but they can and do thrive when they learn their Autistic needs (including autistic social needs) and how to meet them.
Parenting and social environment can affect a person’s experience of autism, it cannot determine whether a person is Autistic or not. This is harking back to the very outdated “refrigerator mum’s cause autism” idea, now widely understood to be completely misguided by autism researchers and specialists.
There are some excellent journals out there publishing papers written in the last decade.
Hello,
Can you please point me to those articles you speak of? I am one of those Mums now convinced I’ve somehow contributed to my son’s challenges.
Being allistic is the result of human exceptionalism and disconnection from the ecosystem. This article is ableist trash.
I agree with the comments that are open to the development of better understanding, over fixed mindsets about past research. It’s not hard to find examples of common understanding that gets evolved over time. Do we really want to believe we have the perfect understanding of autism today and so because of this belief (or faith) we should stop evolving our model?
I appreciate the comment saying it sounds a bit like the “refrigerator mum” theory, but my understanding is that this is not the goal, it’s saying neurodevelopment (by definition) has a developmental component to it and so this is worth further critical exploration, to develop more sophisticated and holistic models of understanding. Both purely environmental and purely genetic explanations have been and would still be reductionistic, and I think it’s quite common nowadays to recognise that nature-nurture is an immature conceptual model that humans have been using, especially with advances in understanding epigenetics etc.
Recent research points to the need for more holistic understanding, e.g. “the genetic architecture of autism is complex, diverse, and context-dependent, highlighting a need to study the interplay between different types of genetic variants, identify genetic and non-genetic factors influencing their penetrance, and better map the genetic variants to phenotypic heterogeneity within autism.”
(Havdahl et al., 2021)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8477228/
You won’t find a scientist or published scientific journal today saying “autism is a genetic condition”, because it’s currently believed to be more complex than that. Which I find quite exciting!
I think it’s important to honour how someone feels “they are” and their associated beliefs about why. If I identify as ASD, I can try to modify my internal or external environment to feel better supported or live more comfortably. This is regardless of my beliefs in the causes, which are dependent on my awareness of and the progression of human understanding and the conclusions I choose to make.
I personally believe human developmental phenomena are complex, to the point I don’t easily subscribe to the idea of “innate” definitions as I find this too simplistic and it leaves out many other levels of explanation, some of which Dr. Maté explores.
But regardless of anyone’s views on the causes, I think we are all entitled to seek benefits from different experiences based on how we see and identify ourselves.
We are medicalizing everything. Somehow we are finding a way to put a label on nearly everyone. It’s still impossible to say why people are autistic. I guess I think it is a combination of factors. What I have seen over the years is this need to give so many more people a diagnosis (of all sorts). Why? Could it be the case there are lots of people that are “autistic” and could it also be the case that this is just a variation of normal? Why must we call it a disorder? Is it??
I think it boils down to trying to cope. A person diagnosed with autism is trying to cope and then we say they are “disordered.” I say.. they are trying to cope (with stress, in a world that is too much, etc.). Now sometimes, the coping mechanisms make us uncomfortable so we slap a label on it and try to treat it. Maybe we should let people be (in terms of diagnosis) and give them the individual support that each human needs to find some level of happiness.
Autism is a part of neurodiversity.
It can often be extremely disabling, though not always so.
Considering autism as a difference in attention, a deeper focus on a smaller number of things, then you can see how it can be a useful brain feature .
See http://www.monotropism.org.
Also worth checking out is Steve Silberman’s Neurotribes, and Robert Chapman’s Empire of Normality, which gives context to why autism has been so pathologised.
Much as I like and respect Dr. Mate’s good nature, I very much disagree with his supposition.
I am Asperger, so was my Dad and Grandfather. It does run in families.
The Autism explosion is much more likely to be caused by industrial and agricultural pollutants, the greater use of plastics. Interestingly, the Autism explosion also coincides with the switch from Aspirin to Tylenol.
Just after birth, many Autistics already exhibit differences in eye contact and social interaction.
I would agree that growing up with Autism is a trauma and that can have a lot of effects, because we don’t recognnise the cues that neurotypical people put out. We are often blind to facial expressions and body languages, so we often experience normies freaking out on us, seemingly without notice. It is pretty much impossible to grow up feeling safe under these circumstances.
Maybe I am wrong, and haven’t read the right articles, but when I have looked into parenting historically, I understood that children were often merely seen as little adults. Loving and nurturing them was not of concern until the ‘luxury’ of not having to concern themselves solely with SURVIVAL was set aside. We (many) live in a relatively stable (eek, yes in some ways but not all) world, unlike 100+ years ago, when illness and famine, and war devastated lives. Now, I suppose I am speaking about those in first world countries (?) – I know illness, poverty, and wars still exist…
Hmm. I guess what I’m trying to say/ask is… was childhood really SO much better in the past? Everyone I know was raised with a VERY firm hand, there was abuse (and no one spoke of it), SO many men were alcoholics, and they worked so very hard to make a living and survive. Most things were done manually, very little automation. But the knowledge of people *I* knew only goes back to the 1930/40/50s. Prior to that life was even harder.
So, to my understanding, children were… merely another mouth to feed and another set of hands to help with the work.
Maybe this is very different from household to household, or culture to culture, or era to era, and so on. I’d like to think, and I’m sure there were some loving nurturing households, but I can barely picture it, unless you were wealthy (and then, it was probably a nanny or nurse who loved you, not your parents). People often married out of duty, had 19 kids because they had no other choice, those kid were spanked, hit, beaten, as were spouses, people didn’t leave unhealthy relationships, didn’t talk about how bad it was, let alone go for counselling.
Am I wrong? Is my view of history very jaded? Or simply not well-rounded enough? Maybe it’s just my own background, being of Ukrainian, German and French ancestry, immigrants to Canada in the late 1890’s and early 1900’s. They left hard times and came over to a different land with a different set of struggles.
So, are we just more aware and knowledgeable now, therefore we recognize things like autism and neurodiversity?
I mean, life is extremely difficult in so many ways, but yet we gave the fortune to be able to ponder our happiness now, ands what makes a better life, and how I can be a better parent. My mother-in-law, who is THE kindest lady ever, once said to me – “we didn’t worry about if we were going a good job or not (parenting) we just did it… whatever our parents did. We didn’t even think about the fact that spanking our children might make them think it’s ok to hit others.”
So, I’m torn.
I think in SO many ways, parents have come to be so much more empathetic and in tune with their kids. But again, maybe that’s just me and my narrow view… 🤷🏼
Given that large-scale genetic studies have consistently shown autism to be highly heritable and associated with numerous genetic mutations, how do you reconcile your theory that trauma causes autism with the overwhelming genetic evidence that points to early neurodevelopmental differences independent of environmental stress? How do you explain the fact that many traumatized people do not become autistic or ADHD? How can you, yourself, as a survivor of the HaUloCaust, use terms such as “Aspberger’s in good conscience? This article is ableist trash and appears to be scientific cherry-picking to support the author’s own theories. Just because an autistic brain LOOKS like a traumatized brain doesn’t mean the trauma caused the autism. You also haven’t addressed how society traumatized autistic people by suggesting that they are “bad” or “wrong” and need to be cured. For someone who is so stalwart in discussing and addressing trauma, you are woefully undereducated about autism and trauma is autistic people. You’re creating a lot of trauma for autistic people by publishing such backwards views. As a neurodivergent (ADHD) person yourself, this smacks of self hated towards fellow neurodivergents. Please do better so the autistic community. My son and I are autistic, and we are highly capable and successful, not that autistic people who aren’t successful don’t deserve basic respect too. I make $100 an hour as a highly skilled consultant; I am a highly skilled artist; I have a detached home in one of the most expensive places in the country; I am a kind, highly empathetic person; I have two lovely young sons and a loving husband; I have lots of friends and family who love and accept me; and, despite all of these achievements, I am worthy of respect and love and I have value independent of my achievements and how others view me. I am successful BECAUSE of my autism, not in spite of it. The way my brain works is truly unique and allows me to solve problems quickly and see things others don’t. It allows me to being logical AND creative and think laterally, so I can produce at an output that no neurotypical can. There is nothing wrong with my beautiful autistic brain, and I wouldn’t want to “cure” it. I wouldn’t want to cure my sons’ autistic either. Autistic is a difference and not a deficit. I don’t know how many times us autistics have to say that before someone believes us. We don’t need to be saved by you. Please do better for the autistic community so your legacy isn’t tarnished by this blatant abelism.
This opinion is highly problematic, particularly in its efforts to seek a “treatment” for autism. As those above with lives experience have explained, autism is a different way of being in the world and the disorder relates to our society’s difficulty accepting, accommodating and appreciating such individuals. One essential factor to note, is that (psychologists and other professionals involved in assessment of neurodevelopmental disorders) have developed better understanding of and approaches to autism and are better at identifying it, while many people suffered with undiagnosed autism in the past, diagnosed with mental health and/or personality disorders, in part as a result of masking and resultant burnout. I recommend seeking out information from those with expertise in autism and neurodevelopmental disorders for further understanding.