Integrative Autism Educational Blog

I just finished reading the article by the New York Times in which they interview a bunch of self appointed authority figures who decide what goes in the DSM-5 and what does not. here is the link before I go on with my rant cited article

The idea, for those who have not been following, is that the nation’s mainstream psychiatrists believe that autism diagnosis in its current form is too inclusive. They believe too many kids are being diagnosed with autism when in fact they are not. Their plan is to narrow the diagnosis in a way that excludes asperger’s, and other autistic individuals on the right end of the spectrum.

Of course they have the authoritative speak on their side and the studies that are sponsored by the special interest and implemented by modern day slaves posing as scientists. But at the heart of the matter is only one issue, insurance costs. The people revising the DSM are looking out for the interest of the insurance companies, not your child. Everybody knows that no state legislature is able to resist the parents’ push for including autism under insurance coverage. So the insurance companies took a sure fire road to counter these families, by lobbying the psychiatrists to say, that while autism should be covered by PPOs, most of these children are in fact not autistic and therefore out of luck. A complete travesty and it follows in a long line of decisions carried out by the mainstream medical community which are solely based on economic interests and corporate greed.

I frequently say that after being in the field for over 17 years, that there is little left that surprises me. Yet these types of decisions never fail to disgust and frustrate. As the old native American wisdom goes, only after all our natural resources are depleted that we will discover that we cannot eat money [I am paraphrasing].

Frank talk: in its essence autism is not a disease or a disorder, it is a personality. An extremely sensitive one but a personality nonetheless. Autistics are born extreme in their preferences and highly sensitive to low levels of strain. Now such a personality is bound to suffer in a world ruled by arbitrary authority that is not subject to any logic or reason. This suffering often manifests as physical and emotional conditions such as gastrointestinal problems, anxiety, difficulty expressing oneself and so forth. The concept of a clinical diagnosis is only needed in the post-modern, post-industrial materialistic world. In an ideal situation, an extreme personality would be accepted for what it is, an extreme personality.

However, while the psychotic mainstream psychiatrists are opting to narrow down the definition of autism to save money, the REAL evidence points to about 1 in 5 newborns who are in fact highly sensitive and extreme and should be placed on the sensitive portion of the personality spectrum. This is not part of the rant. There is solid evidence for that, and ironically most of comes from a group operating out of Harvard and led by Dr Jerome Kagan. Of course you will never see any mention of this overwhelming evidence in the DSM committee proceedings. Another reason for frustration but we live to fight another day.

My final thought for any parent reading this, try not to let your frustration seep into the household. this is because autistic kids pick up pretty quickly on their parents’ emotional state and a frustrated parent makes for a frustrated and gloomy autistic child.

Rami Serhan, MD

Author, Psyche-Smart Autism; Integrative Medicine Consultant

(206) 659-1ASD (273)

Email

Autism Screening
Google Profile

Michael, the autistic reporter for the venerable new site the onion, is back. This time he is trying to use logic and reason to understand war and the emotions of the people involved in it. Needless to say he is in Afganistan where he interviews military personnel from both sides. It is overall hilarious and does in fact show that war makes no sense. I embedded the video below for your viewing pleasure.
Here’s to acceptance! (no matter where it comes from)
Rami


Four American Troops Tragically Killed Along With 23 Afghanis

The Autism E-Screening Device is a first-in-class project of Sovereign Research, LLC. It is the product of many years of research and diligent cooperation between our doctors and engineers.

Measuring skin conductance as a means to assess emotional arousal is not a novel idea in itself. In fact, skin conductance measurements have been the gold standard of neurology research for over fifty years. The point being that changes in skin electrical activity represents the resultant of all commands from the brain. These commands reflect the state of alertness in the brain and are issued to keep the rest of the body in tandem with the degree of readiness the brain sees appropriate at any given moment.

The brain gathers input about the prevailing level of threat from all the senses, interprets these threats based on historic and instinctive standards; and then issues commands to the rest of the body to recruit whatever faculties and resources are needed to meet this threat level. Individuals who are highly sensitive to stress (including those on the autism spectrum) generally respond more vigorously to stress than neurotypicals. Additionally, highly sensitive individuals react to low level stressors that may not even provoke a response in neurotypicals. All this may seem as a survival disadvantage for the highly sensitive since they are overwhelmed regularly by mild irritants, chemical or behavioral. However, this continued readiness allows highly sensitives to cope better with severe stress and crises in general, a situation that stumps most neurotypicals.

This is the biological premise of the Autism E-Screening Device. The device employs skin sensors to collect data about changes in electrical activity. These changes directly reflect the level of perceived threat as interpreted by the brain. The Autism E-Screening Device is effective as of 7 weeks of age and for the rest of one’s life. It cannot be used at an age younger than 7 weeks since the nerve endings in the skin take that long to develop and give meaningful electrical output. There are several ways the E-Screening device can assist in autism.

1- Baseline: measuring skin conductance in a rested, unchallenged and pleasant environment can tell us so much about the perceived level of threat. The higher the skin conductance value at rest, the more likely that the person is on the spectrum. Higher values also indicate how far to the left this person is on the spectrum. For a visual understanding of the spectrum please refer to the Personality Spectrum TM graph.

2- Challenge test: With the use of an activated tuning fork placed to the person’s ear for a few seconds, skin conductance test is repeated. The activated tuning fork represents a mild irritant which usually provokes a vigorous response in individuals on the spectrum. The tuning fork usually evokes only a mild response if any in neurotypical individuals. Note: if you will be testing a hearing-impaired individual, please contact Sovereign Research for further instructions.

3- Follow-up: After initial screening, treatments, therapies and behavioral conditioning typically follow. The Autism E-Screening Device can be used as a means to objectively and quantitatively assess the usefulness and effectiveness of any such treatments. Successful treatments should result in a decline in skin conductance values for both baseline and challenge tests.

4- Home monitoring: This maybe the most valuable use of the Autism E-Screening Device. Continuous monitoring can be used by parents wanting to assess their sensitive child’s state of mind and learn the triggers they need to manage, avoid or use measured steps to expose their child to. Connecting the device to a home computer (or in the near future mobile device) one can objectively assess their own emotional arousal and learn to take measure to calm themselves down when they are threatened. You see skin conductance represents the brain’s interpretation of perceived threat which sometimes may not be commensurate with one’s immediate needs for survival. Being able to gain insight into our perceived threat level helps individuals pierce the sources of their anxieties and take measures to resolve, avoid or cope with these sources of anguish.

Rami Serhan, MD
Author, Psyche-Smart Autism; Integrative Medicine Consultant
(206) 659-1ASD (273)

Email
Psyche-Smart Autism book
Integrative Autism Blog
Youtube Channel
Autism Screening
Google Profile

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and Autism/Asperger’s

I came across a TV ad today that equates cane sugar to corn sugar and jumps to the conclusion that sugar is sugar, and therefore HFCS is “just sugar”. It is customary for the advertising industry to manipulate the truth for profit, but this was flat-out lying.

Cane sugar is glucose, the natural sugar the human body uses to make energy. Corn sugar (HFCS) is fructose, which is NOT the natural sugar your body likes to utilize. Let me start by explaining something about the human body I learned over the past 30 years. Our body is very particular yet very accommodating. It is particular in the sense that it allows only specific chemicals to enter into its metabolic mechanisms. It is accommodating in the sense that it can deal with a wide variety of chemicals, no matter how noxious they are – to a certain extent.

To make the fuel we need for physical and mental activities, our body burns glucose (cane sugar and many other sources). The body uses the energy stored in the carbon backbone of glucose to produce the necessary components for our energy needs. These metabolic pathways involved in energy production are very particular to glucose. They do not accommodate any other sugars, including fructose.

But many tropical fruits contain fructose not to mention corn, a food staple?
You have to make a distinction between naturally occurring fructose and HFCS. Corn, mango, pineapple, plantain and several other fruits and vegetables contain fructose. Eating these food items exposes your body to minimal amounts of fructose, which we have learned to deal with over many generations. HFCS on the other hand, contains many times more the amount of fructose per unit weight than any fruit or vegetable you can possibly consume. As I mentioned in the beginning, the body is accommodating. This means that the body can deal with the occasional exposure to a noxious agent and can detoxify it efficiently. Usually this process does not rise up to your consciousness in the form of symptoms or otherwise. However, when you insist on loading your body with inordinate amounts of a noxious agent on a daily basis, eventually it will come to your attention in the form of unpleasant symptoms and illness.

What happens to fructose when it enters the human body?
Since the energy producing pathways cannot use fructose for fuel, then the body classifies it as a noxious agent. The human body deals with thousands of noxious agents daily. Usually the handling happens in the liver, fat and other sites. The liver takes in noxious agents like fructose and tries to break them down and neutralize their toxic effects.

Why is HFCS harmful then if the liver can handle it?
For most of us, we are exposed to noxious agents sparingly. We might smell household detergent fumes. We may occasionally ingest heavy metals, pesticides, solvents etc… However, in the case of HFCS we are exposed to it in each and every meal. If you shop at a mainstream grocery store or worse, if you eat at fast food parlors and grocery store delis then you are eating inordinate amounts of HFCS on a daily basis. The load of HFCS your liver has to deal with eventually exhausts your liver’s ability to detoxify. In other words if you keep eating HFCS, in 5-20 years it may overwhelm your liver and render it ineffective in protecting you against inescapable noxious agents. This is when not only your liver is failing but also you pancreas (diabetes); your vision is also weakened. Your general ability to cope with stress is significantly compromised too. This is just to mention a few major “side effects”.

What does all this have to do with autism or asperger’s?
A more sensitive body like that of someone on the spectrum is already more likely to classify chemicals as noxious agents and is more likely to respond to them more vigorously than a neurotypical person. Under these circumstances, an autistic person is operating near capacity in handling noxious agents. A daily addition to HFCS might and often will lead an autistic person to decompensate emotionally and physically much faster than an insensitive person. Some of the observed effects of HFCS on autistic children include tummy aches, irregular bowel habits (diarrhea/constipation), aversion to food, temper tantrums, anxiety, regression in social and emotional milestones, headaches etc…

Why is the food industry so adamant on using HFCS?
Well, you want to consider that most food stuffs spoil in 2 weeks or less even when refrigerated. From an economic perspective and “fiduciary responsibility” to share holders, this is an inefficient system that results in lots of waste. Back in the fifties, a chemist in Louisiana was experimenting with concentrating corn fructose and found out that this fructose concentrate extended the shelf life of most foods to about 12-14 months. By the seventies, the food industry was using HFCS for just about anything. Today, over 90% of all food items in the grocery store contain HFCS. Additionally more than 95% of all food items in fast food parlors and delis contain HFCS. Why does HFCS extend the shelf life of everything under the sun so effectively; well because microbes won’t eat it. Critters of all kinds stay clear of food containing fructose concentrate. Nevertheless, we are supposed to eat it without any complaints.

Why can the food industry use such a wide array of chemicals in our food?
The food industry is using an expanding list of chemicals that are added freely to our foods. None of these chemicals is subject to any sort of human testing before introduction to the grocery store. There are simply no laws or regulations compelling the food industry to prove that the unsanctioned chemicals in our food are safe for human consumption. There is a reason chemists are not doctors. The pride of any chemist is to discover or make a chemical that performs a specific function no other chemical can do. Can you say super glue? However, it remains to be seen which of these chemicals is safe for people and which is not. Unless and until we subject the food industry to a rigorous process that prevents them from adding any chemicals to our food unless this chemical is properly tested on animals and humans, then our food will continue to be a major source of illness. The collusion between eager chemists and profit hungry stakeholders is literally a deadly combination unless we force its regulation.

Rami Serhan, MD
Author, Psyche-Smart Autism; Integrative Medicine Consultant
(206) 659-1ASD (273)
Email
Psyche-Smart Autism book
Integrative Autism Blog
YouTube Channel
Autism Screening
Google Profile

Stimming in Autism, problem and solution in 2 minutes from the author of Psyche-Smart Autism book.

Stimming in Autism

Rami Serhan, MD
consultant@sovereignresearch.org
Sovereign Research, LLC

This post is about the use of risperidone in autism; its possible benefits and drawbacks. It seems everyday, in the course of my consultations, one or more clients bring up the use of risperidone (and abilify) in autism. I feel the tide is flowing further and further inland and I am concerned. Is it safe and is it appropriate to load autistic kids with anti-psychotics.
I have been on this trail for a while and all I hear from physicians is how risperidone calms autistic kids down in ways that no other treatment modality can. Of course this is pleasing to all parties involved since many parents feel overwhelmed (and embarrassed) with their child’s seemingly bizarre and even threatening behavior. Risperidone takes all that away and replaces it with a docile demeanor which puts everyone at ease.
No one is asking the question of what is the value of these disorganized outbursts that many autistic children manifest. No one is asking why a child who usually keeps to herself indiscriminately, suddenly turns into this outwardly child who is threatening others.
I hear the speculations and insinuations that autistic children are inherently violent and they need schizophrenia drugs to make them peaceful. However, this is just an uneducated interpretation of the events. Think of it this way. Mainstream doctors who know little about autism are compelled to present parents and care givers with answers to questions they really have no answers for. Ego and good business would have it that doctors go to a familiar place where they have answers, schizophrenia. Unfortunately it is like traveling to a foreign country where you do not know anyone and can’t understand the language. Feeling overwhelmed and powerless, the natural reaction is to find similarities in this foreign land to one’s own neighborhood. This shopkeeper looks awfully like steve, our neighbor from back home; you might think. Let us go talk to him. Soon you will find out that this shopkeeper is nothing like steve your neighbor and that you are still in the same lost state. But meanwhile you feel better just finding some anchor to hang your hat on.
This is the sad state of affairs in autism today. Autism is not schizophrenia or psychosis of any kind. Autistic children are not inherently violent and they are fully in touch with reality. They just do not possess the proper means to express themselves in a socially acceptable manner.
Now, let us go from general statements to more specific exploration of what risperidone does and how it falls short, and is even counterproductive. To get there I need to define serotonin, a neurohormone. Serotonin is a hormone present in all living human beings and among its roles is to make us feel in control of our immediate environment. It gives us the motivation to manipulate our vicinity in a favorable way. This is a common human tendency. We all like to feel safe and dominant in our homes, jobs, relationships etc…
Once serotonin works on its receptors in the brain, it enhances this feeling of wanting to do something to bring order to our vicinity. Serotonin is an especially important player for someone who feels out of control; someone who feels she cannot influence her own behavior or make others act in a way that keeps her in control. In other words, it is a badly needed player in autism.
Risperidone, among other things, blocks a crucial serotonin receptor (5-HT2A) involved in attempting to gain control over one’s life and day and room and so on. By blocking this serotonin receptor, risperidone blocks any actions that serotonin normally provokes. This makes autistic children docile but feeling more out of control than ever. It denies them the opportunity to learn how to dominate their vicinity and bring control and order to their environment.
We all start out not knowing how to manipulate our environment to our advantage and through trial and error we learn to do that. We learn to get our friend or partner or co-worker to respect our individuality and our preferences. However, if one is never given the chance to try to gain such control, then how is this person going to learn. Risperidone is used in psychosis to prevent senseless violent outbursts that characterize many schizophrenics.
However, in autism, risperidone is being used to prevent children from learning how to behave in matters that are crucial to their stability, functioning in society and gaining independence eventually. Autistics do not have violent outbursts, they have failed attempts at getting people around them to respect their preferences and comply with their wishes. A wise parent or care giver has to cherish these tantrums (yes cherish) and try to shape them and orient them into more socially accepted behavior. I thought this is what parents are supposed to do; teach their kids manners and skills to prepare them for life as independent adults. But what do I know; maybe the right parenting method is to create a dependency in the child that makes her helpless and permanently unable to take care of her own affairs. This way when she grows up, we can put her in a home or asylum where a professional perpetuates the same dependency for a fee. As a healthcare professional, this is good business because it is long term business with no end in sight. But as a parent, I hope you can see where this is going.
When did a ten year old become so dangerous as to pose physical threat to a fully grown adult. He or she is not, but it seems society now wants the look and feel of docility and conformity at any price. As a parent, can you afford this price?
All of the above was about the downside of using drugs to “control” children. But what about some constructive research. Back in the late fifties and early sixties a crazy crazy man named Timothy Leary, got his hands on some fascinating mushroom extract from a european pharmaceutical company called Sandoz. This company is now known as novartis. Anyway, this mushroom extract contains a naturally occurring chemical called psilocybin. This chemical was the center of some of the experiments that got Leary and his associate, Richard Alpert (or Ram Dass) fired from Harvard. As it turns out the research on psilocybin was threatening the authoritarian rule in society because it was making people want to explore their purpose in life and motivated them to fulfill this purpose. Obviously in a society that seeks conformity, glorifies docility and despises individuality and original thinking, psilocybin was a clear threat. We all know the rest of the story. The point is, fifty years ago, some enlightened scientists were finding a way for autistic children to explore their own inner self and to get the motivation needed to get out of their shells and join the ranks of productive and independent society. I am not sure that Leary and Dass knew that but they were on to something. Since these mushrooms and LSD are banned substances now, we as a community responsible for autistic children, have to find ways to improve and increase levels of serotonin in autistic children in order to allow them the opportunity to find their path in life. We also have the responsibility to educate parents about behavioral means needed to bring their children from isolation to independence.

Rami Serhan, MD
Founder, Sovereign Autism Research
(206) 659-1ASD (273)
consultant@sovereignresearch.org

A new study published in the journal science yesterday got a lot of attention since it seemed to stand in the face of decades of modern medicine and its understanding of stress, ageing and survival strategies. The study concluded that being the alpha male in a pack of baboons presented more stress and a higher predilection to the diseases of aging than being a beta male.
Almost all studies since World War 2 had pointed to the luxuries of dominance; that alpha males are so comfortable and have access to everything from more mates than they can handle, to more luxurious life style to better access to healthcare etc… that they live longer and healthier than most other people who are not as fortunate. Almost all studies went on to indicate that the lower someone’s rank in the hierarchy, the worse off he is. Stress is progressively higher, diseases of aging are progressively more prevalent and inevitably, these saps die prematurely after living a miserable and unhealthy life.
One of my idols, Dr Robert Sapolsky has been a major driving force for this line of thinking. The man has been commuting between Stanford and Kenya for the last 30 years to drive in this particular point. Alpha males have it good and everyone else lower ranking in the hierarchy has it relatively bad.
So what happened, and how did these Princeton brats suddenly invalidate a body of work like that of Sapolsky. I mean the loss of book sales revenue alone could bring the man from alpha male status to beta male – at least from his wife’s and colleagues’ perspective.
We are undoubtedly indoctrinated into glamorizing authority figures and following “the man” as an infallible entity. Moreover, among the things we are told is that it is not only good to be on top, but it has it material and longevity perks too. We are told that dominance is good, and perky and that there is no downside to it. Now we are getting a rude acquaintance with a long ignored fact of life, the PRICE OF DOMINANCE.
Can both schools of thought coexist or are they contradictory that we have to go back to the drawing boards. Well, there is a fundamental problem with both schools of thought, which once rectified both theories can coexist. The assumption most of these studies have made is that baboons in a pack are defined by their dominance and place in the pack only, when in fact the strive for dominance is but one aspect of someone’s personality. No attention has been given to the inherent personality of the participants.
I mention basic personality of everyone in the pack since it determines how different people respond to being dominant or submissive, or somewhere in between. That difference is clearly laid out in the Personality SpectrumTM as we at Sovereign Research, LLC have found out. Individuals on the right side of the spectrum, mostly insensitives, less sensitive and ADHD personalities respond quite well to being in the middle of the hierarchy or somewhere away from the extremes. Such individuals show signs of distress and accelerated aging when at the very bottom or the very top. Otherwise, they do fine.
On the other hand, individuals on the left side of the spectrum, the highly sensitive, asperger’s and autistic thrive mostly when they are the center of attention. In other words, such individuals experience the least amount of stress when they are at the top of a hierarchy. They have the hardest time when they are in the middle of a hierarchy or near the bottom. When highly sensitive individuals are not at all part of the pack but just roaming in solitude, they seem to fair quite well too.
So, what have we learned here? First, both schools of thought have merit. Second, it all depends on how a particular individual responds to his (or her) place in the hierarchy. The more sensitive naturally prefer being at the top or being lonesome (outside the paradigm altogether) while the less sensitive naturally prefer being in the middle of a hierarchy.
When you factor in the different archetypes based in sensitivity to sensory stimulation, then you find out that not all bosses are doomed like the Princeton study found and not all those in the middle of the hierarchy are doomed like the traditional thinking has given us. However, if you find yourself hopelessly at the bottom of the hierarchy, you better get out, run fast and do not look back because you are doomed to get all he diseases of aging, to get them fast and get them young. If you are at the bottom and you are sensitive, you have to leave the hierarchy you are in; immediate negative impact or perceived impact on your life style notwithstanding. There is no safe place at the bottom.
This is the link to the recent study that seemed to change how we think about aging:
http://goo.gl/Uovxq
And here is the link to Sapolsky’s impressive, yet defective body of work:
http://goo.gl/tCkTO

Rami Serhan, MD
Author, Psyche-Smart Autism; Integrative Medicine Consultant
(206) 659-1ASD (273)
Email
Psyche-Smart Autism Book
Blog
Youtube Channel
Autism screening
Google Profile

Sensitivity based Personality Spectrum, everyone according to their inherent character

For someone new to the field of autism, the application of “theory of mind” stands out as a towering psychological concept, which focuses on a central component of the autistic personality, empathy or lack thereof. Theory of mind, as it applies to autism, was developed by honest doctors who are frustrated by their inability to understand autistic behavior. Going to their strongest attribute as scientists, they observed that many autistic children seem indifferent to human suffering occurring in their immediate vicinity. This observation was consistent among sufficient number of children with varying levels of functionality, that theory of mind was thought to apply. So many doctors are on a mission to introduce some empathy and “knowledge of the world” into the minds of autistic children because of it. So many members of the public, even families of autistics believe it to be true.
However, I will try to focus beyond superficial observations and delve into the heart of the problem. When autistic children (or adults) learn about distant human suffering, they do react, and many are sufficiently moved that they try to do something to reverse the injustice or to ease the pain. Many autistic adults become activists for social justice; and try to help people they never met. So, how come when a significant person in their lives is hurting, they cannot seem to show signs of involvement.
This takes me to another brain phenomenon, cortical activation/cortical inhibition. When faced with a challenge, most people including autistics, recruit their mental faculties in order to handle the challenge they are faced with. Recruitment of mental faculties is cortical activation. But what happens when the challenge has an overwhelming emotional and/or sensory component? This is where cortical inhibition takes place i.e. the judgment centers in the brain shut down temporarily giving way to a blank stare, and sometimes erratic and inappropriate behavior.
When an autistic person in the US hears about suffering in Darfur for example, the emotional component is pretty weak and therefore empathy and even action aimed at relieving the suffering takes place. However, when an autistic person is faced with suffering emanating from someone they know and relate to, the emotional and sensory input is usually too overwhelming to allow for the expected response. This does not mean that an autistic child cannot relate to her mother’s crying or that an autistic adult cannot relate to their spouse being fired for example. This only means that when the suffering hits close to home autistics tend to shut down since they need to process the emotional input before they can respond.
Neurotypicals who can usually empathize instantly, are able to do it because they are able to detach from another person’s suffering no matter who this person is. In a way, lack of empathy is more applicable to neurotypicals than to autistics. At their core autistics feel as bad themselves watching a mother cry or a spouse agonize as does this mother or this spouse. Neurotypicals are able to offer support and listen and analyze because they don’t internalize the other person’s suffering. It all stays at the surface for them and they are not personally affected by it.
It is so unfortunate that supposedly learned doctors and researchers tend to ignore such central facts in investigating empathy and other issues related to autism. However, the challenge to most mainstream doctors is the ability to take a broad view of the topic they are investigating. Their training leads them to have a laser focus on a small portion of the topic under investigation that they can easily miss the bigger picture. In fact, most mainstream scientists assume that putting together the full picture is always someone else’s task. More often than not though, it ends up being no one’s task and the big picture is lost. And yet, somehow, society buys the drivel that comes out face value. I would have no problem with some misguided conclusions, if they were not used to discriminate against and to dismiss autistics as lesser humans. However, school teachers, friends, employers and even family members erroneously look at autistics as defective people and theory of mind/perceived lack of empathy is one of the main reasons for this mistreatment.
I always warn my clients that discrimination is not only about race. Discrimination is primarily about “different”. Skin color and ethnicity are only applications of different. As proof, the majority of autistic children are born to upper middle class white families. Yet that does not seem to help curb the discrimination against people on the spectrum.
I know we have a long way to go before autistics are accepted as just members of society, and that the stigma is long way from being abolished. However, it is never too early to get the word out.
Rami Serhan, MD
Author, Psyche-Smart Autism
(206) 659-1ASD (273)
consultant@sovereignresearch.org

https://profiles.google.com/hspevolved/about

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004TTX0LO

http://sovereignresearch.org/psychesmartautismtm

http://www.youtube.com/user/hspevolved?feature=mhum

http://goo.gl/mvjsL

Autism is not the same as schizophrenia, so why are we using risperidone, abilify, and other anti-psychotic medicines to “treat” autism?

Back in the nineties, as a physician in training, I spent a couple of months at a group home for schizophrenics who are incapable of independent living. Naturally I saw and assisted in the care of dozens of patients. It was not easy being around these patients, they were difficult to deal with and some were flat out dangerous. One story from my time in the home stands out as a typical schizophrenia tragedy. On my second day on the job I met this handsome man who clearly has neglected his looks, hygiene and attire for many years. He is in his thirties and had been in the home for almost ten years straight.

As we begin to talk, he starts telling me about his wonderful childhood. He was brought up in a well to do family. He went to private schools and had educated and considerate parents. He had many friends and everyone who knew him knew he was going places. He had nothing bad or derogatory or hurtful to say about his childhood. In fact, he smiled broadly whenever he described his life at home or school. He went on to college and was admitted to a competitive medical school where he thought he was fulfilling a dream of being able to help people improve their lives.

He describes with enthusiasm and eloquent detail his college years, his girlfriend at the time, and his ability to overcome many hurdles until he earned a spot in medical school. He goes on to describe his first year of medicine with a broad smile. He tells me about the courses he took, the medical discoveries that fascinated him and about his professors and classmates. Then some time during his second year, he went out to see a movie on a Sunday night with a couple of friends. In the movie theater he felt what he described as lightening in his head followed by an unimaginably painful headache. Alarmed, he ran back home.

I was listening attentively as he suddenly stopped talking. I asked him, in what I will never forget as long as I live, “what happened after that?”. He simply answered, “I was brought here”. His smile gone, I realized that he did not have anything to say about the last ten years of his life. It was like someone drew a line that fateful day at the theater and everything that followed was just complete emptiness. There was nothing to tell because to him, nothing happened; it was and continues to be just an empty and meaningless existence devoid of feelings, accomplishments, relationships, learning, skill execution and every other human property you can think of. Everything before that Sunday at the theater is just mere memory to him. None of it relates to his present. He lost the ability to function in any intellectual capacity and became a non-human entity housed in the body of a handsome young man.

He has all the memories of a life that did not seem to be his. He can no longer relate to any of the mental or social skills he used to have. It was as if someone came along and grabbed all these skills away from him leaving him an empty shell.

This is a theme story that is typical of how schizophrenia develops in young adults. This is without question, not a typical story of how autism develops. However, on the surface, there some similarities in the demeanor of schizophrenics and autistics. I will dissect the main similarity that has led to all the confusion among doctors and the public alike. While both schizophrenics and autistics appear withdrawn and unwilling to participate in the world as we know it. They arrive at this place through completely different processes and have completely different futures from there.

Schizophrenics are withdrawn because they have nothing left to offer to another human being or to better their own lives. Unfortunately, medication or not, this central theme is likely to drag on for the rest of their lives. In other words, they lose the human part of the brain and they never get it back.

Autistics, on the other hand, are withdrawn because they are overwhelmed with everything they have to offer. And eventually, many figure it out, come out of their shell and go on to discover their talents and gain access to the human part of their brain. Being autistic means being highly sensitive to sensory stimulation and stress in general. This often leads to over-stimulation and sensory overload. When that happens, an autistic person is forced to shut down until the overload is washed out. This means that during overwhelming conditions autistics lose access to the higher mental and social functions on a strictly temporary basis. This does not mean their brain capacity is permanently depleted, as is the case in schizophrenia. This only means they have to shut down the higher brain functions until the sensory overload washes out. Once that happens autistics can go on to contribute to other people’s lives and to enrich many lives including their own.

While overwhelmed, sometimes for years on end, autistics may miss out on learning all sorts of skills. However given the right understanding and accepting environment they can catch up on any skills they missed. This is also in dramatic contrast to schizophrenia. The latter group has virtually no chance of going back and building a life since their mental faculties are depleted.

Risperidone, abilify and other anti-psychotics are meant to help control schizophrenics and to calm them down. They do not treat, cure, or change the course of schizophrenia. That course is already set beyond anyone’s ability to manipulate it. These drugs are meant primarily to keep schizophrenics from harming themselves and others. And at that they often do the job they are employed to do. The price medicated patients pay is that the medications prevent one from realizing their potential in life. A distinction without a meaning in schizophrenia. However, in autism, this distinction makes all the difference. What parent will knowingly give a drug to their son or daughter that is sure to keep this budding life from realizing its potential. What parent will knowingly give their son or daughter a drug that takes away their chances of leading a productive and independent life. The answer obviously is, none. This parent does not exist. However, mainstream doctors ignorantly package these drugs as something that will make your child easier to handle, and maybe even more sociable. That way, parents are erroneously enticed to try such drugs. This blatantly misleading packaging of course makes for a way out for a doctor who has little else to offer. Not for lack of other more productive means of handling autism; but for lack of “sanctioned” means of handling autism as far as the medical establishment is concerned.

I can go on and tell you about all the medical facts that support my observations and conclusions but I see no need since it is obvious for any scrutinizing eye to tell the difference between these two completely independent situations. Sometimes, you just have to be there to know. However, if anybody is interested, I will be happy to share the evidence as it stands.

Rami Serhan, MD
(206) 659-1ASD (273)
consultant@sovereignresearch.org

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004TTX0LO

http://sovereignresearch.org/psychesmartautismtm

http://www.youtube.com/user/hspevolved?feature=mhum

http://goo.gl/mvjsL

Reuters: WHO says cell phone use “possibly carcinogenic” http://t.co/RuMprbq

Wow, how long does it take to say that radiation beamed at short distance directly to your head may not actually be good for you. Well in the case of cell phones about 30 years. That is not because health officials the world over were tirelessly looking for evidence the last 30 years. Nope, that is just because economics trumps health every time everywhere. Enough said!

Of course one does not have to stop using cell phones altogether. There are ways today to minimize radiation exposure. Using a bluetooth earpiece allows one to keep phone at a safe distance. One may also make phone calls from a computer or tablet using native speakers/mic. Google talk and Skype come to mind and they are all free. Yet, if you have to have your phone by your ear, a friend of mine is working on a paper thin chip that you can place on the back of your cell phone to divert the radiation. Drop me a line and I will send you the info regarding the chip.

Rami Serhan, MD
consultant@sovereignresearch.org
Sovereign Autism Research