Autism is heritable and difficult to cure? The results of research from top foreign children's hospitals will subvert this perception

01. This latest study on autism has subverted cognition

When a child is diagnosed with autism, many parents feel like the sky is falling and fall into despair!

For a long time, mainstream psychiatry has believed that autism is highly hereditary, difficult to cure, and a neurodevelopmental disorder.

For example, the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) mentions that the heritability of autism spectrum disorder ranges from 37% to more than 90%.

The most authoritative psychiatric masterpiece in China, "Shen Yucun Psychiatry", said that the heritability of autism (i.e., autism) or autism spectrum disorder in children is as high as 80%-90%.

In other words, mainstream psychiatric practitioners tend to believe that the etiology of autism is mainly related to congenital factors such as genetics, which is a biological reason, and the acquired environment is only a secondary influencing factor.

However, a recent study in the prestigious journal JAMA Pediatrics has turned people's perceptions upside down.

The research team led by Elizabeth Harstad of Boston Children's Hospital observed and followed 213 children with autism over a long period of time, all of whom were diagnosed with autism between the ages of 1 and 3, the research article said.

The researchers had imagined that after professional intervention, about a dozen percent of these children would no longer meet the diagnostic criteria and recover well.

As a result, later observations greatly exceeded their expectations. Of these children, 79 children (37.1%) no longer meet the criteria for autism by the age of 6, and most of them are girls or children with strong adaptability.

Why do more than one-third of children with autism no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for autism after only a few years of age?

This is unlikely, and the research team emphasized that the diagnosis of these children with autism was made by multidisciplinary consultation, and the misdiagnosis rate is extremely low.

Does that mean that these children have received a lot of intervention and therefore recover very well? It seems that it is not, because although these children have also received professional intervention, they have less time overall than other children. At least in terms of data, there is no direct correlation.

If the main cause of autism is really caused by the genes that cause it, is it possible that these genes are changed by the age of six?

This study shows that autism is not a completely incurable disease, and its occurrence and formation may not be the kind of "genetic inheritance" as the public understands, and at least some of autism is likely to be caused by "epigenetic mechanisms", which can be reversed.

The genetic diseases as understood by the public generally refer to diseases caused by defects or mutations in the genes themselves, such as albinism, hemophilia, etc., which are very common monogenic inherited diseases.

This genetic change is not acquired, so the disease is likely to stay with the patient for life, and there is a certain probability that it will be passed on to the next generation. The common people's saying that "dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes, and the children of mice will make holes" is a metaphor for this kind of genetic disease.

But autism obviously does not belong to this type of genetic disease, and until now, researchers have not found the exact causative gene and no relevant biomarkers.

Therefore, the diagnosis of autism is actually a symptomatic diagnosis, and the psychiatrist mainly determines whether the patient has symptoms that reach the relevant degree through consultation and observation, and if so, autism can be diagnosed. As for whether there is a psychological factor behind these symptoms, and how do they occur? Doctors don't need to think about it.

However, clinical statistics have found that the "heritability" of autism is indeed very high, that is, if there are autistic patients in the family, then there are often autistic patients in their immediate family, and the family aggregation is very obvious. However, this inheritance may be caused by "epigenetic mechanisms".

We have previously analyzed this genetic modality in detail when we introduced the genetic factors of depression and bipolar disorder.

In simple terms, epigenetic mechanisms refer to the fact that the genes themselves do not change, but the way genes are expressed under the influence of the environment produce heritable changes.

The expression of this gene will change with many factors in the acquired environment. For example, studies have shown that medications and psychotherapy, air quality, and lifestyle can all alter gene expression. That is, this mode of inheritance is reversible.

In the above study, those children who no longer meet the criteria for autism at the age of 6, if there is really a genetic factor in the cause of their autism, it is very likely that it is an epigenetic factor, and when the acquired environment changes, the corresponding gene expression changes, so that the symptoms are significantly alleviated or even disappeared.

This change in the acquired environment may involve many aspects, such as professional intervention, parents and the elderly have changed the way of family education, the patient's teachers and friends have provided better understanding and support, and may even include the adjustment of dietary structure, etc., which may have played a positive role, especially the parent's family education style.

Therefore, I hope that the above scientific research experiments can bring inspiration and hope to autism practitioners and patients' families, break through their own cognitive boundaries, accept more cutting-edge scientific knowledge, stop looking at autism with the same eyes, and stop thinking that once a child is diagnosed with autism, he will never be able to take off this hat.

02. The root cause of Asperger's syndrome may also be superimposed psychological trauma

The above research shows that some people with autism may no longer meet the diagnostic criteria when they grow up after being affected by many aspects.

In the in-depth clinical intervention, after going deep into the patient's implicit memory, we also found that:

In some patients diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, the main cause is not physiological factors such as genetics, but psychosocial factors, and their symptoms are acquired.

For 19 years, I have been engaged in the field of psychiatry, but I mainly treat patients with depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, addiction disorder, etc., and even a small number of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia by other doctors. From time to time, relatives and friends ask me if I can admit autistic patients.

Because most of the autistic patients are young, their communication function is impaired, and it is difficult for them to communicate deeply with others, and it is difficult to carry out in-depth psychological intervention. We don't have to work on porcelain without diamonds, and we have always been aware that our abilities are limited.

However, some adolescent patients present with depression or bipolar disorder who have been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome by other leading psychiatrists, or some patients who present in childhood may well meet the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder.

This image is AI-generated

In the past, Asperger's syndrome and typical autism were two separate disorders, but in 2013, DSM-5 eliminated Asperger's syndrome and collectively referred to it as "autism spectrum disorder".

Of course, there are also scholars who believe that there are differences between typical autistic patients and people with Asperger's syndrome in terms of neuropsychology, brain structure and function, and the two should not be combined. This is still controversial.

Asperger's syndrome begins in childhood and has some symptoms that are similar to typical autism. However, children with Asperger's syndrome tend to have a normal vocabulary and intelligence, and they have better verbal skills and cognitive function than typical children with autism.

In other words, people with Asperger's syndrome tend to have no problems with their intellectual and verbal abilities, and although they also have significant social impairments, they differ from typical autism.

The typical autistic person tends to withdraw from interpersonal interactions, avoid others, and are not interested in the people around them. But many people with Asperger's syndrome are initially willing to socialize, but the way they socialize is very clumsy and self-centered.

Some of the patients we see in clinical practice with depression and bipolar disorder have been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and we have found that the root cause of this is also superimposed psychological trauma.

One adolescent patient, Kiki, has a very severe social impairment, is super sensitive to sounds, especially the sounds of electric fans, has violent mood swings, has a history of major depressive episodes, and often has conflicts with her parents.

Her mother first took her to the psychiatric department of a major public hospital in Shenzhen, where she was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder, and was given psychiatric medications, but the treatment was not effective.

Subsequently, they went to a well-known psychiatrist in China, especially with extensive experience in the diagnosis and treatment of Asperger's syndrome.

In fact, Kiki was 16 years old at this time. But this expert believes that in addition to obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder, Kiki also suffers from Asperger's syndrome, but has been missed, and the expert has adjusted the drug treatment plan, but the effect is still not ideal.

After that, they went to Beijing and found another very famous psychiatrist. The specialist did not consider Kiki to be a patient with Asperger's syndrome and only diagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder. Her medication regimen was adjusted again, but it still didn't work well.

Later, Kiki's mother and daughter found me again. During the consultation, Kiki was a little timid, but she was able to express herself normally and think logically, and I didn't feel like she was suffering from a neurodevelopmental disorder.

After entering her implicit memory level through clinical in-depth psychological intervention, we found that her social impairment had a lot to do with family education problems.

Since she was a child, her parents placed too much emphasis on academics and grades, severely restricted her interactions with classmates, and even prevented her from doing household chores. Kiki seriously lacks interpersonal practice and experience, does not master basic communication skills and rules, and is a little self-centered, which is rejected by many students.

Later, she developed severe mental and psychological symptoms, had a strong sense of stigma, and had very low self-esteem, so she didn't understand and was unwilling to socialize.

So, I don't think Kiki is really a person with Asperger's syndrome. Or, even if she once met the diagnostic criteria for Asperger's syndrome, it was not innate, but was caused by acquired psychosocial factors, especially the superimposed psychological trauma she had encountered.

After Kiki's major superimposed psychological trauma was repaired, she recovered well, not only was she emotionally stable, but she had already withdrawn her medication and returned to school to continue her studies.

There is another adolescent patient, Liu Ke, who has not liked to talk since she was in kindergarten, does not want to play with children, and always plays with blocks and dolls by herself, and almost does not talk when she plays, just fiddling with it in her hand.

Even though Liu Ke's communication skills have improved as he grows older, he is still very timid, afraid of contact with living people, and his social skills are very poor. If she had visited a psychiatrist as a child, she could have been easily diagnosed with autism or Asperger's syndrome by a psychiatrist.

Through clinical in-depth psychological intervention, it was found that behind her reluctance to socialize and her lack of understanding of socializing, there were a large number of superimposed psychological traumatic events. After the major superimposed psychological trauma was repaired, Liu Ke also recovered well, was able to study abroad on his own, and his communication and social skills were greatly improved.

03. Doing these 5 points can reduce the risk of autism in children

The real clinical cases above show that at least some of the autism spectrum disorders are not congenital, but are due to acquired psychosocial factors.

And even if the child is diagnosed with autism, Asperger's syndrome, etc., parents do not have to be discouraged and hopeless, thinking that they will not be better in this life. If there is a change in the child's living environment and the way he is educated, it is entirely possible for the child to take off the hat of the disease.

Therefore, whether parents want to prevent their child from developing autism spectrum disorder or want to help their child recover faster, they can actively do the following:

First, when the mother is pregnant, she should try to maintain emotional stability and avoid quarrels between husband and wife.

Second, after the child is born, parents should know how to raise children in a truly scientific way, avoid inadvertently causing superimposed psychological trauma to the child, and create a warm and warm family environment.

Third, as children grow up, parents should consciously guide their children to master the right social skills and methods, so that children have ample opportunities to socialize with their peers.

Fourth, if it is found that the child is withdrawn and introverted and does not like to play with peers, parents should pay attention to it as soon as possible, find out whether there is a psychological root behind it, and solve it in time.

Fifth, if the child has been diagnosed with autism, Asperger's syndrome, etc., parents can take their children to receive professional psychological intervention and behavioral intervention in time, and parents can also receive family therapy, and can also combine drugs, microbiota treatment, traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture treatment, etc.

Regardless of whether children are truly autistic or Asperger's syndrome, they do have certain social problems that affect their psychosomatic development. Parents should not take chances, thinking that their children will definitely get better when they grow up, so they blindly refuse professional intervention and refuse to make changes in family education.

Parents learn to self-reflect, change and improve, improve the family atmosphere and parent-child relationship, and adopt a family education method suitable for the law of children's psychological development, and children are more likely to take off the hat of "autism" as soon as possible.

In fact, physicist Albert Einstein and Musk, the world's richest man, were both thought to have Asperger's syndrome when they were children, but they both achieved great success later. Especially Musk, whose achievements are inseparable from his mother's education. When we have the opportunity to do so, we will conduct an in-depth analysis of their life experiences from the perspective of precise psychopsychology.