A Pill to Induce Autism?
A “group of German researchers” has announced that they have “perfected the method for inducing autism.”
??!!!?!?!???
They have also, it is parenthetically noted, figured out how to “cure” autism (this study on reversing symptoms of autism and Fragile X is cited). Cure being a fighting word in discussions about autism, I’ll note that this “autism-inducing drug” is described on io9, a science fiction blog:
Need to finish that work project, and wish you had the mental intensity to do it? Just take a synapse-regulating inhibitor, induce temporary autism, and you’ll want to ignore your friends and do nothing but number-crunching for days. Autism-inducers could become as popular as Provigil among the geek set by 2020. Last night, in fact, a group German researchers announced they’d perfected the method for inducing autism. (They can also cure it.)
Over the past year, researchers have demonstrated several times that they can turn mice autistic by messing with brain chemistry — and then “cure” them using the same techniques. The discoveries could lead to a scenario similar to the one in Vernor Vinge’s novel A Deepness in the Sky, where people are given a brain treatment called “focusing” that essentially turns them autistic and makes them obsessive, detail-oriented workers.
It might also lead to recreational autism, where people who want to take a break from having messy emotions about other people decide to unplug and enter a state where human relationships are no more important than inanimate objects.
Being able to “turn autism on or off” might seem like an amusing notion, but, as the mother of a child who is autistic and who will be autistic for his entire life, this suggestion about a pill that “induces” autism displays only a superficial understanding about what autism is: Obsessive orientation to details, lack of emotions, focus on inanimate objects. Yes I see all of these in my son, but also a great interest in other people (if a rather different way of interacting with them), plenty of emotional outbursts and responses, and an ability to ignore things that would really bother some people.
On the other hand, maybe I should be flattered that other people would like to be like Charlie, if only temporarily. For the past few weeks, he’s been in “up and down mode,” struggling with mood swings that happen in a flash (early adolescence?), learning to add double-digit numbers on a calculator (”I did math today!” he told me after he had put his Language Master card through the card reader a couple of times). After piano practice (a slow start, a melodic finish), a brisk walk, and a homey dinner of rice and stir-fry, Charlie wrapped himself “enchilada style” in a fleece blanket and asked over and over for this video of himself, swimming in the ocean and riding his bike. I’ve shown him other videos of himself in the waves last summer, but you can hear the sound of the ocean on this particular video, and that’s what was playing as Charlie fell asleep.
Tags: , asd, asperger, autism, autism spectrum disorder, children, drugs, Family, medication, mothers, ocean, pdd-nos, pill, Psychology, science fiction, you tubeRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Adolescence, Fragile X, Medicine, Neuroscience, Stereotypes, Videos, Water
16 opinions for A Pill to Induce Autism?
M
Feb 1, 2008 at 7:09 am
Someone who wants to “induce” autism should probably spend a little more time learning to induce empathy.
Normalcy, on the other hand, is something they’ve known how to induce for years: through a product called “television”. Side-effects include obesity, disinterest in books and increased watching of crap entertainment (like screaming judge shows…and Eli Stone).
delilah
Feb 1, 2008 at 11:54 am
“Recreational autism”?! Amusing indeed.
I’ve been enjoying your blog. Hope you don’t mind me de-lurking to comment.
Angelique
Feb 1, 2008 at 11:56 am
This is horrifying. And I think it’s terribly cruel to treat autism as something that can be casually turned on and off light a light switch.
Sarah
Feb 1, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I agree. This “research” shows a complete misunderstanding about autism. Like you mentioned, it’s a complete misconception to believe that people on the spectrum don’t care about human relationships or don’t have emotions pertaining to them. On the contrary, we may care very much.
Cliff
Feb 1, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Maybe, deep down, I should be offended by this, but it’s making me laugh to hard, so before I get to honest commentary…
Hahahahahahahahaa!
… Ok, I’m done.
Now, seriously, I want to “number-crunch” for days? I’m a person, not a calculator, and somehow that my past time would be doing mundane work isn’t exactly so. I might go off and work on one of my interests for a while, if that’s what they’re trying to get at (and exaggerate).
And the whole “people not as important as inanimate objects” thing? Callous, and not true. As if I don’t have messy emotional relationships.
I mean, come on, this is a joke.
Right?
Cliff
Regan
Feb 1, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Without seeing a real study, I think these sci-fi guys are indulging in pie-in-the-sky with a misunderstanding of not only autism, but the sum of the effects induced and reversed in the mouse models, which their hypothesizing was based on.
They might not have intended to be callous, but I think the whole discussion on the blog is pretty limited and misguided.
Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader
Feb 1, 2008 at 6:18 pm
“??!!!?!?!???” <– my thoughts exactly.
As is M’s comment of “Someone who wants to ‘induce’ autism should probably spend a little more time learning to induce empathy.”
And everything Regan said.
And let’s set aside the idea that inducing a brain/mental health issue is warped and focus on the idea that inducing it could possibly backfire and cause it to be permanent?
What is wrong with people?!
Skov
Feb 1, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Being a sci-fi fan, I had high hopes for io9…but it looks like it’s defined itself as Maxim for geeks.
*sigh*
D's Mom
Feb 1, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Have these “reporters” actually ever met someone with autism (i.e. “human relationships are no more important than inanimate objects.”) That may have been the misconception that I had of autism before I had my son, but now I know that it is completely untrue. My son craves the companionship of his peers; he just has a hard time knowing how to go about getting it. How can that be an “escape,” wanting something so badly but having a hard time understanding how to get it?
Kristina Chew, PhD
Feb 1, 2008 at 11:49 pm
@Skov, am still trying to get my mind around the io9 logo but I’m never been a Maxim reader…..
I guess I could have said more I felt about the notion of “recreational autism” etc. but thought the !!?!!?! said enough!
Marla
Feb 2, 2008 at 1:02 am
Yeah, this is an obvious misunderstanding of autism. All autistic people are different and I know for sure that my daughter has a very difficult time focusing. And the “escape’ from people by being autistic so you can focus to get something done? That does not even make sense as far as I can tell.
Marla
Feb 2, 2008 at 1:03 am
Did you notice that one of the ads that shows up on your side bar is Chelorex….to remove heavy metals/Chelation. I just thought that was kinda interesting.
Winter Doldrums
Feb 2, 2008 at 11:23 am
[…] in the US) we’ve one more month to go to get to March and longer, warming days. Charlie, as I noted yesterday, has been in “up and down mode,” learning new skills and trying new things, and […]
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Feb 2, 2008 at 11:37 pm
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Oracle
Feb 5, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Beyond the developmental aspects of autism, it’s really a methylation pathway disease (methylation of histones regulates developmentally regulated gene expression). That methylation deficiency is wrapped up in the trans-sulfuration pathway and its intersection with the B12 cycle. Autism is marked by a reduction in the ability to produce antioxidants, and autism patients have very low threshold tolerance for stress of any kind.
Have you not noticed the number of ‘geeks’ these days? There is a sort of induced autism, caused by excessive stressloads in parents during their reproductive years that is imprinted on their offspring. They exhibit autism-like symptoms; since this problem, too, is caused by ineffectual gene expression linked to low methylation rates and metabolic shortages in those key pathways, this ‘inducible’ autism is also treatable. That is what the scientists who claim to reverse autism have found: that the homeoboxes that regulate developmental expression of genes can, to an extent, be reactivated in adult years to repair or replace defective gene expression ( this is a post-transcriptional issue, in other words, the genes themselves are functional, but the cut and paste gene transcribing mechanism doesn’t produce the correct gene product). Aussie doctors have of this correctability known this in a more crude and advocated replenishing the missing pathway coenzymes, metabolites and intermediates by use of supplements and strict diet, along with CBT-type behavioral therapy. It works quite well. Canadians have adopted this approach, as have the Chinese and Israelis (and even Russians). In the US, however, the medical profession continues to advocate a behavioral correction program, ignoring the metabolic deficiencies of autistic patients. Depending on the degree of autism and symptom combination, the inattention to metabolic deficiencies can add up to a significant risk for certain chronic diseases in adult years.
Melody
Mar 29, 2008 at 9:50 pm
The thing that disturbed me most about that was that people seem to think that autistics think of people as unimportant, or only as important as inanimate objects. It seems that there’s an assumption that if you don’t interact with people in the usual ways, that you are not interested in interacting at all. Also often ignored are sensory distractors, whether pleasant or unpleasant, that can make interacting with people difficult to sustain.
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