UWSaint wrote: ↑Tue Sep 23, 2025 7:40 am
Good posts re autism, Per, both on the questions that need to be asked when presented with correlative info (e.g., is there also correlation between painkiller use and underlying conditions that may have a causal influence) and also precaution about jumping to the conclusion that it needs to be "fixed" except in those circumstances where it is truly debilitating.
I think the same observation may apply to many of the mental conditions American society (not sure about Canada or Sweden) medicalizes -- ADHD, anxiety, depression -- and I bet we could also list a series of impressive creative people who have been afflicted with one or more of these. To be sure, I know people who's lives were transformed remarkably for the better when they took SSRIs, but there are many counterexamples of people who aren't materially better but just different. And dependent. And sadly, I have one friend who experienced the increased s**cidal ideations once on a new drug (known side effect) and then acted on it. I guess that ended his depression.
The neurodivergent spectrum of disorders is a curious one.
I don't think there is anything more than a genetic component to autism, aspergers, or the like. I have a bit of a theory, and I have no clue where to actually get numbers for it.....
When you look at the majority of human science and technical advancement throughout our recorded history, the vast majority of those individuals are described as people who were almost certainly in the category of those "disorders" that I mentioned above. I would postulate that, regardless of which side of the creation/evolution/alien seeding argument you sit on, those disorders are not "mistakes". They are necessary members of the human race in order for our species to progress in knowledge, understanding, and technical invention.
We currently have a global population that is a shade north of 8.1 billion people.
In 1905 when Albert Einstein discovered the theory of relativity the population of the world was around 1.65 billion people.
The estimates differ by country, however globally the estimated population of people on the autism spectrum is around 1%. Percentages are congruent to totals. Autism was not recognized as an official diagnosis until the latter half of the 20th century, and it was only added to the DSM-III in 1980.
Considering that the autism spectrum now incorporates, Aspergers, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, one has to ask, are we seeing more of these people simply because there are way more of us on the planet now? Looking back to my school days I can certainly see that there were a number of people that I regularly interacted with in classes, even a few on sports teams, who would certainly fit under at least the Aspergers diagnosis. Almost all of them were either insanely smart in math, science, and (to an extent) history, struggled in classes like English, few were good at art (although I've read some stuff that suggest artists like Michelangelo were almost certainly on the spectrum), but a fair chunk were incredibly gifted musically (if not natural ears, then insane theory and technical ability).
ADHD was not as obviously "rampant" as it is now.
I don't think there is any sort of nurture component to the disorders on the Autism spectrum. I think that you can provide nurture that enables, or helps, these individuals cope and interact more easily and "appropriately" with the rest of society, but beyond that they are simply who they are.
I do think that ADHD has a massive nurture component and I don't like that it is put on the neurodivergent list with autism, but thankfully it has not been lumped in on the autism spectrum. I also think that a portion of ADHD is actually a natural part of the way a male brain works.....and it shows up in varying degrees. Classically men learn from hands on methods of learning. For men to fully learn the theory of things they have to put it in to application. Getting hands on with something is typically the most effective way of learning for us. Men are capable of overcoming this and applying themselves academically, but for some it takes more effort than others. Men are far more heavily effected by device use, and fare more easily distracted by screens.....and there is an observable correspondence between device/screen time and ADHD behaviours.
All this to say that I think when it comes to the autism spectrum, perhaps we are trying to find a "cure" where none is required. Perhaps this is a situation where the normal majority needs to recognize that this abnormal group of individuals is actually a normal minority in the species with a specific purpose.