The issues of curing autism, and treating comorbids.

People unfamilair with Aspies for Freedom often ask if we are against the treating of comorbids as part of the aims. As far as I personally see it, treating comorbid conditions is relevant to helping individuals, as long as they are not forced that treatment, or the treatment is abusive.

The huge difference between someone choosing to take a medication to help their depression, or having speech therapy to enable them to communicate to the best of their ability, and having an actual cure for autism is that autism is at the core of the person, most often genetically so, and present from birth.

As an analogy, if a woman had polycystic ovary syndrome, she would most likely expect and receive treatment to help her. This wouldn't change who she was, but would help that condition.
Clearly that although all women have ovaries, treating them for a medical problem does not change who she is, or her femaleness.

In the Victorian era, if a woman appeared to have a mental health condition, it was blamed on her being the 'weaker sex'. An hysterical woman (the word hysteria coming from the Greek word for womb) could suffer the treatment of having her womb removed, a hysterectomy. It
was thought that her femaleness itself was causing any problem. This is similar to the modern notion that in order to help someone with autism, who may have numerous comorbid conditions, that the autism itself must be removed.

It's barbarically simple, and as horrifying to many of us, as it would be to have a hysterectomy as a cure for depression.

This is a quote from a webpage about the history of a mental asylumm, and the people forceably detained there -

"Of women locked up at 999 (Asylum) prior to 1900, a quarter were in for "female trouble" -- "childbirth, lactation, miscarriage, menstrual disorders, uterine disorders" and other natural conditions seen as "the predisposing cause of insanity."

The "wandering womb" lived on in medical discourse. Cynthia H, 49 -- widowed and childless, admitted to 999 from a sanitorium in 1904 -- was "reported to have been restless, terrified of being deserted by everybody," and "in constant dread" of not being provided with food.
The cure for her "hysteria"? A hysterectomy. It failed to cure. She died five years later, at 999 (Asylum).

Daniel Clark denounced sexual surgery -- as an attack on "women's innate sense of modesty." But "utero mania," as he called it, was common: countless women were unsexed "for their own good." Many more went not under the knife but into the bin -- for the good of "the race."
(ref 1)

It could also be compared to the ageing process, as people reach their seventies and eighties they often require medication, treatments or walking aids. They are the same person inside but the body needs more help. Some groups of people advocate euthanasia for ailing pensioners, instead of the time consuming and costly medical care that they may
need. The additional conditions, or comorbids of old age need help, without altering the person inside.

I hope this makes it clearer to people who are unsure where we stand on conditions comorbid with autism.


References:

1. http://www.rbebout.com/queen/libtrin/2pnotat.htm

I think in the case of depression and AS,  a person might benefit from some other counselling/other help besides just being given some anti-depressants.   Some cause of depression is chemical imbalance (is this true?) but I think more people with AS might be depressed because of other factors in their life:  unemployment due to AS, bullying problems, etc.

Yes, whatever help a person sought for whatever condition would be their choice.

I don't trust counselling but maybe it works for other people. I'm sick of having my words twisted and used against me if I'm completely honest about how I feel. I take medication - it helps a bit and it would be good to talk to someone too but I couldn't trust anybody right now to be able to understand.

Greetings,

I'm not sure how to put this without sounding like a hypocrite - but I've argued against the practice by some professionals of treating individual symptoms and ignoring the root causes - but I would still say there are individual issues which have to be dealt with in different ways.

So I would probably say as long as you start at the root then its ok  :razz:
As far as going about that - I think a more introspective approach needs to be taken.  Introspection was the first form of psychology and it is now all but ignored in favour of behaviourism and psychoanalysis.  If you dont take a minute to examine what the mind is actually doing and how it works then theres no point.

P.S.  I finally managed to convince the bastards to put me on ADHD medication  :grin:

I think it is proven that depression comes from a 'loose' contact between neuro-synapses. By using pils with neurotransmitters to improve the workings of those synapses, depression could be 'cured'. This DOESN'T say that depressed people have some sort of neurotransmitter (i.e. serotonine) deficiency!

It is true to start at the root causes.... but not in the 'curing' of autism. Most treatments you are referering to are probably clear, i mean, where the causes are actually known and proven scientificaly true. I can't imagine you can pinpoint the causes of autism now! Well, in some cases doctors know the reason what caused it, but they don't know what really happens in the brain...

Talking about introspection... it would be ideal if a doctor can jump into your mind by doing some sort of Vulcan Mind meld or participating in a vision quest of the patient, to experience what the patient is REALLY feeling..

Are you sure you did the best thing to take medication?

Amy's post in simple terms: helping people overcome mental and physical health issues that seriously inhibit their life is supported, trying to force a treatment on someone just because they are different is not.

Uschi, please spend a few more weeks on that research.  Be sure especially to vet the medical opinions being presented you - several new-age types have web sites out there making all sorts of fantastic claims for whatever method they have of "clearing" your problems, and daming "traditional medicine" for preventing them from spreading their good news to all the world.  They are, of course, being silenced by the massive conspiracy of science...  :roll:

I have done quite a bit of research on the topic myself, as my wife has major depressive disorder.  Oddly enough, the two things that help most are talk therapy, and the proper dosage of a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) - which seems rather suggestive of the idea that her depression is biochemically based...  (My own bouts have all been situational depression, which is another breed of cat entirely - times when I've just been worn down from trying to interact with the NT world, and feel bummed about the whole thing.  Doesn't really compare with a pervasive sensation that everything you do, and everything you are, is entirely worthless, and that nothing will ever get better, said sensation persisting for months at a time without medication.)

I like the idea of using cognitive therapy, and showing how to do it yourself. Like there's this book my psychiatrist recommended called 'Feeling Good Handbook' which I'm reading now and is pretty good...

Not getting the medication I needed for my OCD type obsessive thinking and chemical dependency has gotten me into trouble with the law. I also would never be able to leave my home without another medication. I understand if people prefer to not take meds. I am miserable without them.

I get very sick without my medication but also find it is not working as well as it could so maybe it is just about time to ask the doctor if there is something else. Some people say Zoloft has helped them a lot but as it is related to Prozac, I'm a little wary - because Prozac has had some really bad press at times.

A lot of people are still taking prozac under another name, because of the bad publicity they call it something else.

Under the NHS (which can no longer prescribe by brand names) "Prozac" is called by its pharmaceutical name fluoxetine.

I have been taking it since 1990 without ill-effects that I have noticed.

Medication is very useful for depression, either as a treatment or as a palliative.  But, and it's a big but, you have to find the right drug at the right dose that's useful for you and this can take a lot of experimentation.  I've been on (at various doses) Lofepramine (worked slightly); Venlafaxine (did nothing); Fluoxetine (made me worse); and now I'm on a combination of Lofepramine and Lithium (works well but not perfectly).  Took me about 3 years to get to this point.

Drugs wont change who you are, but they can make it easier while you work out who you are.

I think if I could get the depression under control, then the autism shouldn't be too much of a problem.