Autism and Schizophrenia Linked
Reader Comments
Vaccines and autism
I find the fact that all the vaccine makers have removed thimersol from their vaccines a little telling. Pharmaceuticals companies do not tend to remove something from the market or make a change to a formulation that ends up costing them money purely because a few people say there MIGHT be a problem. I find this very hard to believe. I am not saying that this is the only trigger and I am sure there will be multiple triggers as well as multiple genes found to be involved in the development of autism. Any geneticist would agree with that obvious statement.
But the ancedotal evidence from parents and the timing of multple vaccines given at the same time where the trigger appears to take place still seems very telling to me. What I don't undertand is that if the CDC has only started collecting data since 2001 on autism, how all these scientists rushing to disprove the vaccine link can have 12 years worth of data to analyze. That doesn't make sense to me.
Trying to analyze past historical data prior to the development of a clear cut diagnosis and even a good understanding of a condition seems very flawed to me. You can speculate of course but you can't call it clear-cut science.
Link between autism and schizophrenia
This potential connection has always been interesting to me. My maternal grandmother had schizophrenia yet my mother had eight children with no mental illness nor delay. However, the oldest child has a daughter with schizophrenia and the youngest child has a son with autism. There is no sign of neurologicalproblems in the other nine grandchildren.
Autism and schizophrenia
Dr Leo Kanner made the connection between autism and schizophrenia way back in the 1940s. The common denominator was the mother, whom Kanner termed a "refrigerator mother" because mothers of both autistic and schizophrenic children appeared to him rather cold and unnuturing. This labelling of the mother unfortunately created a backlash against the idea that your environment can determine your neurosis (and I do believe the these two conditions are more like neuroses than not). Now it is not politically correct to say the mother is responsible for schizophrenia or autism. It is easier to say it is an incurable brain disease and therefore nobody feels offended. There are also huge amounts of money to be made chasing the diseased brain model of illness. As a mother of a young man who was diagnosed schizophrenic in late 2003 and who is now what I consider to be cured of his neurosis, I am quite happy to acknowledge my role in his neurosis. No, it was not bad parenting (at least not any worse than most mothers). It was vibrational energy passed from mother to child in the womb. The vibrational energy of shared family trauma that I inherited from my own mother due to her early life trauma and unconsciously transferred to my son. Energy medicine and understanding the hidden trauma passed through generations of the family is the key to getting over schizophrenia and probably autism too. I simply reject the idea that these need to be considered chronic conditions. As weird and as terrifying as the behaviour can be, it is symptomatic of a problem, not a disease. As the old saying goes, "the apple never falls far from the tree".
More on vaccinations
However, companies do remove ingredients and product components all the time when there's a public demand for it. Cookies and crackers are now made without transfats, there are low-sodium chips, etc. There has been a public demand for thimersol to be removed from vaccines. That's not evidence that there was a positive link between that and autism. It just means the fear is there, and there's enough demand for it to be removed.
Finally, a link between the timing of vaccines and the onset of autism is also not proof of a correlation. Autism is often detected around the age of 2 or 3 (sometimes earlier and sometimes later, of course). Vaccines are given to children on a schedule. Just because kids get a specific vaccine around that time doesn't mean it causes the condition. Most kids probably start eating junk food for the first time around that age, too. Does that mean there's a correlation there? Of course not. It's a coincidence until you prove otherwise, and there's no scientific evidence to corroberate those fears.
schizophrenia
When I read these things about genes, I often wonder if the behaviours altered the processes in the brain and caused the mutations. The brain is very plastic and all kinds of things can change it including behaviors. stress, infections, etc.. It's the chicken and the egg thing. So finding mutated genes does not mean that they were the cause of the problem.
Evidence based theory
Re: Juang Frau's post:
The article referenced is a new understanding of the diversity of gene variations, not the environment. Your reference to the environmental influence of vibrational energy is at odds with current research regarding brain differences in children with autism. Parents do not cause autism. I do not think that the NIMH and others are simply being "politically correct." They are basing the etiology of autism upon the state of the research, which does NOT indicate parenting is to blame, at all.
Also, I suggest Ms. Frau consider the historical consequences that backward non-evidence based psychological theories have caused, such as recommendations of institutionalization for young children with autism.
Also, the article referenced families "being unhappy in their own way." My family and my child with autism experience quite a bit of happiness-- and joy-- albeit in our own way.
The Mutations Exist First
Behavior cannot alter the processes in the brain and cause the same mutation in every cell in someone's body. The mutations must have been present before development occurred. Otherwise, every cell would have different mutations.
"that all the vaccine makers have removed thimersol from their vaccines a little telling"
yes indeed. it tells us what a litigious legal system exists in America. it's also why silicon implants were removed without any scientific data, and why products with absolutely no nut content contain "may contain nuts" labels, and why coffee gets "coffee is hot" labels.
If people who can't tell the difference between anecdotal evidence and scientific evidence would spend their time investing the excellent anecdotal evidence that rat poison boosts your immune system - instead of posting their worthless opinions all over the internet - the world would be a better place
Chicken or Egg
Very interesting topic. I'm often taken with 'chicken or egg' phenomena in regard to illness. With schizophrenia, symptoms generally do not occur (at least not recognizably) until late adolescence or early adulthood. It's been speculated that hormonal changes trigger the symptoms in those predisposed to the disease. We know that chemistry changes the thought processes and moods of people and also that changes in environment (including things that trigger moods) cause changes in chemistry. It's difficult to completely distinguish cause and effect but it would appear as though they each influence one another. When the mood is changed through things such as meditation, the body is in a state in which healing occurs more easily. I'm not by any means suggesting that schizophrenia or autism can be cured by meditation but only accepting the fact that there are many variables and that we don't have all of the answers yet. Everything is, in fact energy and vibration. Drug therapies, radiation therapies, every type of therapy utilizes energy/ vibrations in some way. I feel like the person who mentioned energy therapy is not totally 'off' but the fact is that EVERYTHING is energy... it's what chemistry and every other aspect of physical science is about. We should remain open to everything but remain rational and critical in our analysis. :)
