Autism's Link to Parents' Schizophrenia
I read the headline on the article—"Parental Psychiatric Disorder Associated With Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Offspring"—and thought, Oh, no! Back to the bad old days of the 1950s when "refrigerator moms" were blamed for causing autism. But the article beneath this scary headline, in the May Pediatrics, is good news, the kind that could lead to better understanding of the sources of autism and, eventually, effective ways to treat or prevent it.
Julie Daniels, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, looked at the health records of the parents of 1,227 Swedish children with autism who were born between 1977 and 2003. Those parents were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with schizophrenia as parents of children who didn't have autism.
What's the good news in finding families with a heavy burden of mental illness and developmental disorders? This new study supports the hot new idea in autism research that people diagnosed with either schizophrenia or autism often share the same rare genetic mutations. Studies of early childhood brain development have shown that in both autism and schizophrenia, the brain development process is accelerated from birth to age 3.
"There's interesting, complicated things there," Judith Rapoport, head of child psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health, says of this new study. She is one of several researchers who have found common genes in schizophrenia and autism. In adults, she notes, the symptoms of autism and schizophrenia can often be similar, to the point that even trained psychiatrists are confused. In fact, it wasn't until 1980 that the shrink community formally recognized autism in the DSM, the bible of psychiatric diagnosis. Before that, it was called "schizophrenic reaction, childhood type label."
Daniels also found that the moms of those children were almost twice as likely to have been diagnosed with depression or personality disorders, but that didn't hold true for the dads. That could be because of the caretaking burden. Rapoport doubts that there will turn out to be a genetic connection between autism and depression, noting that other research has shown no link.
Tags: autism | parenting | children | genetics | schizophrenia
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Reader Comments
Be fair.
This is not the only study linking schizophrenia to autism. After working with parents of children with autism for 15 years, I can tell you that MANY parents DO have psychiatric diagnoses... NOT ALL. If you are insulted by this study, you are either: a) not in the percentage of parents who are affected by a psychiatric illness, b) see no merit in genetic studies of autism (in which case, please don't complain that there isn't enough autism research being done), c) want to absolve yourself from any responsibility of having passed on something genetic (not your fault either), d) have not met enough parents of children with autism to have a say here, e) taking this a bit too personally, which may indicate narcissistic tendencies. The mentally ill parents of these children are making me leave the field. They are impossible to please, irrational, egocentric, and feel overly entitled. I won't even include those parents who beg for the diagnosis of autism for their children when it clearly (to an experienced professional in the field) does not exist. I've also worked with MR, seizure disorders, cerebral palsy, etc., and I would go back to those in a heartbeat. Again, I do not believe all parents of autistic children are mentally ill. But it was one of the first things I noticed when I started in this field. I commend all of you parents. This is the most difficult diagnosis to manage. I feel your desperation and commitment to your children, and I absolutely commend you. For those who are mentally ill, go easy on the people who work with your kids! Don't take out your anger on them. They want your child to succeed. Believe me. THERE IS NO CURE, I don't care what Jenny McCarthy says. THERE IS NO CURE.
my son was diagnosed with autism at 2, after 7 months of frantic visits to nurses and doctors after dramatic changes immediately following vaccination. This was 19 years ago when mercury was present in the vaccination. I come from a very large family [13 siblings and huge numbers of nieces, nephews ect ] no-one in my immediate or extended family has autism or mental illness and i was a fit healthy 18year old when i gave birth to him. I have went on to have 3 more children who are all non autistic and have all been vaccinated albeit with a vaccine not containing mercury. So having pretty much ruled out inherent genetic factors, age factors and knowing myself to be a dedicated and loving mother, was this just a coincedence?
Happy Mother's Day, Mom. You must be schizophrenic
Which is apparently what this study should have been titled.
I was appalled when the "results" of this study came out. The fact that it came out just before Mother's Day makes the insult even worse.
As a parent whose austistic children participated in a couple of North Carolina's earlier studies into autism and a non-participant as far as the vaccine lawsuit or any other lawsuit is concerned, I will take a moment to point that I come from a large family and no one else in the family current or past within anyone' memory, was, is, or has ever been autistic, schizophrenic, or mentally ill. The two children who are autistic did develop a large welt at the injection site and respectable fevers after their immunizations were given. Since the immunizations were mandatory and because they were considered necessary at the time for a child's well being I went ahead and completed the series of shots. My other two children's (one older and one younger) reactions were limited to mild fevers and fussiness for a day or two. By the way, North Carolina should you figure out who I am please don't call. My family's participation in your studies ended with this article.
To the person who wrote this article. There have recently been some stories in the news about university studies being funded by outside sources. Was that part of your research?
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