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Asperger Syndrome Tied To Low Cortisol Levels

Posted by timothy on from the years-of-single-minded-study dept.

caffiend666 writes "According to a Health Day article, low levels of a stress hormone may be responsible for the obsession with routine and dislike for new experiences common in children with a certain type of autism. 'This study suggests that children with AS may not adjust normally to the challenge of a new environment on waking,' study researcher David Jessop, from the University of Bristol, said in the news release. 'This may affect the way they subsequently engage with the world around them.'"

3 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Article by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    FTFA:

    If these Asperger symptoms are caused primarily by stress, caregivers could learn to steer children away from situations that would add to anxiety, the researchers said.

     
    But as a diagnosed asperger's sufferer myself, NONONONONONONONO! This is EXACTLY the type of wrong response we've been getting all along to this disease. No, you don't "steer the children away" from situations, you train them to find other ways to deal with the situation. And you work on research to find other ways to increase Cortisol production.
     
    I think it would help mightily if the researchers on High Functioning Autism, actually had High Functioning Autism themselves. Then maybe we'd have suggestions that would really help in the real world.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  2. neurological, not behavioral by shrubya · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If I'm reading them correctly, the studies being quoted (BTW, here's one of them if you have ScienceDirect) are NOT saying that Asperger's can be cured or prevented by altering a child's exposure to stress. They're saying Asperger's brains have a different neurochemical reaction to sudden changes than ordinary brains do.

    1: This may (or may not) point toward changing how Asperger's kids are trained to deal with stress.
    2: More interesting to me, this may point to targeted pharmaceuticals able to provide long-term remission.
    3: This may just be a side effect of Asperger's, and the actual cause is somewhere else entirely.

  3. Re:WHAT? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but how much MORE effective would you be if you could talk to real people like you talk to slashdotters?

    More effective in what regard? More effective in deciding whether my current blouse is of the right color to go with my jeans? More effective at promoting myself at the waterhole? More effective in speaking 25 languages fluently? Face it, they teach the same in economics class: spending more effort on activities that are not part of your core business will always be to the detriment of said core business.

    Besides, the way I see it, Asperger's syndrome is not a lack of vocal skills but a lack of a sense of "urgency" when it comes to smalltalk (without the capital). That has both pros and cons, and I'm happy with it. But then again, I'm also a big proponent of sociodiversity (the way things are going, maybe one of the last), so me considering myself "perfectly sane" isn't really much of a measure.

    How much more could you contribute if you could function in "management" type discussions..

    Not. We already have too much people that are incapable of producing something of value.