To answer your question, I’ll need to offer a non-medical definition for the word, “autistic.” Before I do, start with this. Nelson, please do not trouble yourself with medical labels. Most DSMs (e.g. diagnostic manuals 1 thru 5), in their prefaces, admit to and apologize for the inadequate way they assign these labels. So while…
Sarah, you ask what is surely one of the more difficult questions to answer honestly about Autism; can getting this diagnosis harm you? My first response may be hard to hear. In many ways, it can. Our world sees this diagnosis as indicating something is broken in the person. This is not true in my…
Rohit, I love your question, in large part because the general consensus leads to me feeling hopeful. For me, being creative (especially in music, arts, and science) has felt like the air I breathe for most of my life. Most experts have found correlations between engaging in creative, brain challenging activities and a lowered risk…
My first instinct, when I was sent this question, was just to pass. I try to avoid topics immersed in beliefs religiously rooted in poorly researched science. Even a quick survey of the answers posted shows this topic is one of those. Placebos are said, without question, to be “sham substances or treatments which have…
Please forgive my opening rant. It’s just that I am so sick and tired of the world treating us like we’re broken. Rant warning on: As long as we continue to adhere to the medical model’s way of defining heath (as the statistical norm), questions like this one; “mask their condition,” will continue to be…
There is a time in child development when children live to ask, and hear answers to, natural “why” questions. During this time, parents are gods and children hear their answers as absolutes. Sadly, by the time these children enter third grade, they have projected this pattern onto out-in-the-world mommies and daddies. And by the time…
To begin with, the phrase, “black and white thinking,” is pejorative. As used here, it implies, right from the start, that people on the spectrum are broken rather than different. This is similar to the way people in the 1950’s called African Americans, “darkies.” When called on doing this, most people would say they intended…
To begin with, I have Asperger’s. I am also a therapist for close to thirty years. For most of these years, I’ve sat with people with Asperger’s every day. In each case, when I first meet them, I tell the person the same thing; that despite what anyone has told you, you are not broken….
Arguably, Ashwin, understanding this question should be in the top five concepts for all those practicing in the medical / psychological professions. Being in the latter, my answer will focus on DSM-V diagnoses. Setting aside the myriad problems in the DSM’s design, the key to diagnosing lies in a single word. “Differential.” Here, the process…