Autism

**Crumbled_pavement** · December-23-10, 01:23 PM

I know some people don't believe in mental disorders [[especially ones like Autism, ADD, and ADHD) and feel that they are just disorders made up by liberals trying to excuse otherwise unacceptable behavior or bad parenting. However, my cousin has Autism and I hardly think it's made up, this kid is seriously afflicted. I was wondering if there are any others on the board that have relatives that have been diagnosed with Autism and what their experiences were with this disorder.

There is an article on MLive.com that caught my attention today. I don't know if I agree with some of the arguments in the article but it just made me think about the real problems some children face and I thought it was worthy of discussion.

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde..._on_backe.html

**rb336** · December-23-10, 01:55 PM

Mental Health issues are just that - health issues - and should be treated as any other disorder. I have had friends with various disorders who were greatly helped by medical care. Kudos to Ron Artest who thanked his psychiatrist after winning the NBA championship.

**Crumbled_pavement** · December-23-10, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

Mental Health issues are just that - health issues - and should be treated as any other disorder. I have had friends with various disorders who were greatly helped by medical care. Kudos to Ron Artest who thanked his psychiatrist after winning the NBA championship.

I absolutely agree with you. I know a lot of people personally who don't grasp the severity of mental health issues and think that other people act up just because they want attention or are being jerks. In a lot of ways I'm more sympathetic to people with mental disorders than I am to other physical ailments.

**Pam** · December-23-10, 03:04 PM

In a lot of ways I'm more sympathetic to people with mental disorders than I am to other physical ailments.

A lot of so called mental problems are physical ailments, if they are caused by something in your biology like a chemical imbalance of the brain etc. I think there must be a biological or environmental cause of autism, they just don't know what it is yet. It can't be anything the parents are doing, because it starts at an early age or there are other children in the family that don't have it.

**maxx** · December-23-10, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by Pam

A lot of so called mental problems are physical ailments, if they are caused by something in your biology like a chemical imbalance of the brain etc. I think there must be a biological or environmental cause of autism, they just don't know what it is yet. It can't be anything the parents are doing, because it starts at an early age or there are other children in the family that don't have it.

From what I've read, people with autism have no mirror neurons in addition to other brain anomalies.
http://cf.linnbenton.edu/artcom/soci...rorneurons.pdf

**gibran** · December-23-10, 08:26 PM

People misunderstand the biology that is involved in mental health issues... the sad thing is the stigma attached MH leads to noncompliance with treatment and refusal to take medicine for fear of isolation. The lack of funding leads to even horrible conditions for the person and their families. If you know a person that has mental health issues, encourage them that the disability does not define them...and if they need medication it is no different than Diabetics who need medicine to balance out their sugar levels... It is chemistry... personality disorders may have a environmental component but Autism and other Axis diagnosis has a chemical/biological root. If we don't start seeing these people with value our homeless population will grow.. separating them from their families.. Thank you for sharing

**Crumbled_pavement** · December-24-10, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by gibran

People misunderstand the biology that is involved in mental health issues... the sad thing is the stigma attached MH leads to noncompliance with treatment and refusal to take medicine for fear of isolation. The lack of funding leads to even horrible conditions for the person and their families. If you know a person that has mental health issues, encourage them that the disability does not define them...and if they need medication it is no different than Diabetics who need medicine to balance out their sugar levels... It is chemistry... personality disorders may have a environmental component but Autism and other Axis diagnosis has a chemical/biological root. If we don't start seeing these people with value our homeless population will grow.. separating them from their families.. Thank you for sharing

Thank you for this post, and everyone else great posts as well. I think part of the problem people have with understanding mental disorders is that we can't easily relate to the disorder. We've all had an experience, no matter how brief, where we were blind [[power outage at night) or couldn't hear [[at a club where the music drowns out someone talking to you) or couldn't walk [[stubbed a toe or banged a knee), etc, so we understand people with those ailments. We definitely need stronger advocates for those with mental disorders and society needs to be educated more on what they are, how they affect people, how to treat them, and how to deal with people with these disorders. Some of our most brilliant historical figures in this country have had mental disorders but have still contributed enormously to this country. I agree Gibran, we need to see these people as having value despite their mental condition.