Biological Explanations for Autism
Biological explanations for autism suggest that genetic and neurological factors play a significant role in the development of the condition. Research has identified specific genes and brain abnormalities associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These biological factors are believed to contribute to the atypical social, communication, and behavioral patterns observed in individuals with autism.
5 Key excerpts on "Biological Explanations for Autism"
eBook - ePubConstructing Autism
Unravelling the 'Truth' and Understanding the Social
- Majia Holmer Nadesan(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Thus, autism brain science typically presupposes a linear, unidirectional relationship across neurological abnormalities and the expression of autistic symptoms. The role of the social environment in shaping autistic symptoms has little to no significance in this model. The challenges associated with such linear relationships will also be explored throughout this chapter. I now turn to a more detailed discussion of the scientific quest for discovering the biological “origins” of autism. Autism: the search for causal agents An explicit disavowal of the psychoanalytic formulation of autism as rooted in the mother-child relationship motivated the project of defining autism strictly as an organic disorder. Bernard Rimland, a PhD whose son is autistic, helped spearhead the movement in the United States to understand the disorder from a biomedical perspective. Understood from this framework, autism is loosely conceived as a disease or set of diseases caused by underlying genetic errors or variant alleles engendering a variety of neurological and/or physiological conditions believed to cause the development of autism. Across approaches, observable “autistic” behaviors and cognitive deficits are thus believed to be epiphenomena of the underlying organic disorder(s). In order to understand how the biogenetic perspective constructs autism it is first important to understand how research is conducted in the search for the biomedical markers of autism. Contemporary autism research takes a variety of approaches to discover specific biological markers for the disorder. Perhaps the most publicized approach focuses on identifying a distinct autistic genotype or genotypes across autistic populations. Another related approach explores the relationship between autistic symptoms and other medical conditions in order to understand how biomedical conditions may give rise to the disorder...
eBook - ePubMotherhood and Autism
An Embodied Theology of Motherhood and Disability
- Campbell(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- SCM Press(Publisher)
...In contrast to the ‘top down’ theories of psychology equating symptoms with behaviour, neurobiological theories offer a ‘bottom up’ approach, suggesting instead that behavioural and sensory symptoms are a consequence of impaired brain structures (Loveland, 2001, p. 18). A study into the electrical patterns of the brain of autistic individuals of varying symptomology, versus neurotypical controls, found that in two-thirds of their sample the autistic individuals showed different activity across the brain in comparison to controls, and a reduction in activity in the frontal lobe particularly (Tsatsanis and Volkmar, 2001, p. 90). This correlates with similar studies that have drawn links between impaired executive function in autistic individuals and the temporal limbic and limbic frontal regions of the brain responsible for decision-making, perception and behaviour (Frith, 2003, p. 179; Tsatsanis and Volkmar, 2001, p. 90; Loveland, 2001, p. 28). Frith reinforces a neurobiological theory of autism, proposing that a considerable number of shared features can be seen in the behavioural effects following damage to the frontal areas of the brain, as in acquired brain injuries, and those commonly found in individuals with autism – for example, emotional regulation and repetitive behaviours (Frith, 2003, p. 179). In current research, neurobiological theories have gained significant credibility in assuming an underlying cause in the development of autistic behaviours. Biological Biological models of autism have sought to locate the root of autistic behaviours within the body, medicalizing autism as a condition with a biological basis – and, therefore (potentially), biological treatments. In the 1960s, psychologist Bernard Rimland began to get letters from parents of autistic children with alarmingly similar and curious gastrointestinal problems, ranging from diarrhoea, to constipation, to vomiting...
eBook - ePubAutism
A New Introduction to Psychological Theory and Current Debate
- Sue Fletcher-Watson, Francesca Happé(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...4 Autism at the biological level WHEN THE ORIGINAL version of this book was written, it was still necessary to say that autism is not caused by psychogenic factors and to directly refute the ‘refrigerator mother’ myth by giving evidence (then still limited) of the biological basis of autism – e.g. high rates of epilepsy. Thankfully, this no longer needs to be argued for. There is now good awareness, in most places, that autism is a strongly genetic condition arising from a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Nonetheless, huge efforts have gone into finding the genetic and neural bases of autism, with what some might consider a disappointing lack of major breakthroughs. Research has identified plenty of biological features that differ between people with and without autism, and also features that vary dimensionally with a specific behaviour. But at the time of writing there are no biological features that provide a distinctive marker, or specific cause, of autism (Muhle et al., 2018). Heterogeneity of etiology may be one reason why progress has been slow; many people now talk of ‘the autisms’ to reflect the belief that different individuals have different biological paths to autism. The research funds spent on finding the etiology of autism are also a matter of controversy and debate, with many stakeholders concerned that biological research is focused on finding a ‘cure’ and arguing for greater funding towards more immediately improving the lives of people on the spectrum. We recognise the strength of feeling among the community and reject the notion that autism might be something to be cured. But it is wrong to suppose that biological research, even that focused on ‘causes’, cannot align with community priorities. Through a better understanding of biology, we can develop meaningful opportunities for intervention for difficulties that commonly co-occur with autism and that autistic individuals might choose to address...
eBook - ePubChild and Adolescent Psychopathology
Theoretical and Clinical Implications
- Cecilia A. Essau, Cecilia A. Essau(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...For example, some studies have suggested that a child younger than their sibling with autism is more at risk of adjustment problems and some studies find that it is those older than their sibling with autism that are at most risk. Clinical Implications There is some argument as to the nature of the increase in prevalence of newly diagnosed cases of autism since the 1970s. There is evidence to suggest that changes in case definition and improved awareness explain much of the upward trend of rates since the 1970s (Fombonne, 2003). In addition, since the 1990s we have heard much about the possible link between the combined MMR vaccine and autism. After reviewing 32 published epidemiological surveys published between 1966 and 2001, Fombonne (2003) concedes that the available studies do not provide an adequate picture to fully explain why the incidence of autism and other pervasive developmental disorders (e.g., Asperger’s Disorder) have increased. While the cause of autism remains unidentified, and the number of new cases continues to rise, autism spectrum disorders will undoubtedly require a greater amount of financial, educational, and clinical resources over the next few years. While the major theories outlined in this chapter have gone a long way towards outlining possible sources of the deficits seen in autism, no one theory can account for all of the features of autism. While theory of mind or social orienting deficits can explain the social and communication impairments seen in autism, they cannot account for the repetitive or stereotyped behaviours that are also a feature of this disorder. Similarly, whilst executive functioning deficits and weak central coherence theory are able to explain many of the cognitive and visual characteristics of autism, they do not provide straightforward account of autism’s social and communication deficits. Furthermore, few links between theoretical accounts of autism and intervention techniques exist...
eBook - ePubThe Disintegrating Self
Psychotherapy of Adult ADHD, Autistic Spectrum, and Somato-psychic Disorders
- Phil Mollon(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...CHAPTER EIGHT The psychology and neurobiology of the autistic spectrum “The autistic child and the autistic part in all of us hanker after certainty, after freedom from doubt, after complete knowledge, after unalloyed satisfaction. The hard fact that this is unobtainable is the sharp rock upon which … psychic development has foundered. Their emotional and cognitive development has been crippled by the umbrage aroused by it” (Tustin, 1986, p. 168) T he usual description of autistic spectrum disorders as characterised by deficits in social and communication skills, and in the display of repetitive and stereotyped behaviours, may be supplemented by reference to a number of other aspects of behaviour and experience that become apparent when such people are seen in psychotherapy. High levels of anxiety and shame Many (but not all) people on this spectrum are assailed by continual high levels of anxiety. This may worsen when in situations involving proximity to other people and particularly those requiring interaction with others. Psychological contact with other people, including eye contact, may be overstimulating, causing physiological arousal, confusion, irritation, and panic. This may be described as extreme shyness and social anxiety. It might become suffused with shame. Some of the higher functioning people on the autistic spectrum might manage to conceal this inner turmoil and present outwardly and superficially an “apparently normal” social persona. This split between the inner cauldron of anxiety, confusion, and shame and the outer “apparently normal” personality might begin early. I once asked an extremely troubled lady, with marked autistic spectrum features and intense anxiety and shame, whether she had felt this way as a child. She replied that inwardly she had felt like this for as long as she could remember. I then asked how her teachers might have described her. She said they would have described her as a happy, outgoing, and confident child...
