Blog posts tagged Autism

There is an interesting article in the Harvard Business Review this month about a Danish company run by Thorikil Sonne that preferentially hires IT workers who are on the autistic spectrum.  Thorikil notes in a related Wired article that "this is not cheap labor, and it's not occupational therapy," he says. "We simply do a better job."  

Mindsite has always been a big fan of the 'neurotypical' movement, a summary of which is below:

Neurotypical syndrome is a neurobiological disorder characterized by preoccupation with social concerns, delusions of superiority, and obsession with conformity.

Neurotypical individuals often assume that their experience of the world is either the only one, or the only correct one. NTs find it difficult to be alone. NTs are often intolerant of seemingly minor differences in others. When in groups NTs are socially and behaviorally rigid, and frequently insist upon the performance of dysfunctional, destructive, and even impossible rituals as a way of maintaining group identity. NTs find it difficult to communicate directly, and have a much higher incidence of lying as compared to persons on the autistic spectrum.

NT is believed to be genetic in origin. Autopsies have shown the brain of the neurotypical is typically smaller than that of an autistic individual and may have overdeveloped areas related to social behavior.

Tragically, as many as 9625 out of every 10,000 individuals may be neurotypical.

It was tough to pass up writing a quick note on a fascinating article that just came out by Benedict Carey at the NY Times on a new theory about the mind as it relates to our genes.

Their idea is, in broad outline, straightforward. Dr. Crespi and Dr. Badcock propose that an evolutionary tug of war between genes from the father’s sperm and the mother’s egg can, in effect, tip brain development in one of two ways. A strong bias toward the father pushes a developing brain along the autistic spectrum, toward a fascination with objects, patterns, mechanical systems, at the expense of social development. A bias toward the mother moves the growing brain along what the researchers call the psychotic spectrum, toward hypersensitivity to mood, their own and others’. This, according to the theory, increases a child’s risk of developing schizophrenia later on, as well as mood problems like bipolar disorder and depression.

In short: autism and schizophrenia represent opposite ends of a spectrum that includes most, if not all, psychiatric and developmental brain disorders. The theory has no use for psychiatry’s many separate categories for disorders, and it would give genetic findings an entirely new dimension.

While these theories will undoubtedly remain highly controversial for some time, they are a fascinating new lens to view the topology of mental health disorders currently detailed in the DSM-IV. You can read the full DSM-IV text at Mindsite on Autism as well as Schizophrenia. The implication that all human mental health can be characterized as a continuum of predisposition between these two conditions is definitely very 'out of the box' thinking; only time will tell if there is an evidence base to support these assertions.