A Radical New Autism Theory

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What are others opinions of this article? It even sources some comments from WP!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-11/a-radical-new-autism-theory/full/

In part:

wow...i feel validated. this understanding sits with me so much better.

I didn't read the article, but the quote you've supplied us describes how I've often felt. It's like there is no filter to sort what emotions to respond to, and what emotions to let pass. They all come swarming in.

I think the overload from other people caused me a lot of awkwardness. I've adapted quite well by getting used to it.

This was a fascinating article and certainly clicks with my experiences. My problem, ironically, is that I'm often so attuned to people's emotional states that I overestimate how or what their feeling (i.e. I attribute emotions to them becasue that's what I sense/see; thereby creating so much internal anxiety that I have to check and see if I'm correct ("Are you angry with me?" "Are you upset?", etc). my family is used ot me dping this (it's been a life long habit) but I know it also anoys the hell out of them.

Agreed, I think the article states the feelings of most of us quite clearly. It seems like someone finally listened.

Its been said tons of times in this forum.

OMG! For me this is real. I FEEL. I have told my husband many times that I feel as if I'm plugged into the UNIVERSE. I barely made it home from a shopping centre and meeting on Monady at my husband's cafe' because I was in a state of utter fear and panic. For NO reason whatsoever other than I felt every person's stories on my way home into our complex.

I think if I was able to release the "emotions" or intense feelings or observations or whatever you call it before I became completely overwhelmed, I wouldn't have freaked. People can be so LOUD. But I don't have filters and I also don't know when I've had enough. One minute I'm ok and I'm happily enjoying a conversation and then it all just get's too much.

So I sometimes end up freezing in a public place with my 16month old toddler and my hubby has to leave work to come fetch me.

Yes. This would explain why some of us demonstrate our empathy in obvious ways like being vegetarian. I was the first at my school when I was 8. To me, I had more empathy for the suffering of animals than my NT schoolfriends and could not understand why they did not have it too. I get very low when I read bad news and, thank god for my piano because I take those feelings out there. Often I have felt empathy for others but not known what to do to help them so did nothing and they may have thought that I did not have empathy for them.

Personally i think articles like this just spread misinformation. There's already far too many people on the forum that try to claim that we are all empathic and it simply isn't true. There clearly are people here that are too empathic, but the article seems to suggest *everyone* with ASD is like this.

Autism isn't one singular condition, it's hundreds of different conditions with hugely varying causes, that just happen to have a similar list of core symptoms.

Maybe i'm nitpicking, but i just don't understand why these articles can't say something like the following...

"A groundbreaking study suggests a a subgroup of people on the autism spectrum do not lack empathy-rather they feel other's emotions too intensely to cope."

Maybe one day we'll be able to filter everyone into different groups, but until that day comes, i'd like to see people embrace the "spectrum" and the fact that we are all different. It would be unfortunate if some poor chap was recieving the wrong treatment, because it was assumed he was too empathic rather than just lacking empathy.

If I am on the spectrum, then I can possibly relate to this. As my psychiatrist stated, I am apparently very sensitive to the change in bonds (friendships & relationships). I often don't know what the change is, but I react to it. Often I find the case to be that when I am confronted by this sensitivity, I tend to over react to it and go for the masochistic route because I can deal with the numbing sensation it provides - which then answers the reason why many higher functioning autistics are also masochists.

I think they are really on to something here. I don't think I've met any autistic person who had no empathy, although I have met a number who have completely shut down in sheer self-defense, plus some who hadn't quite hit that "theory of mind" point where there's no world outside the noise in their own head.

I think many of us just get rubbed raw and isolate as self-protection. I know I do--I get so sick of people who always want me to be sensitive to their needs but dismiss mine, like I exist to serve or something. They always seem to have more rights than me since they're NT and I'm not.

I dunno, maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy. Anyone else feel this way?

^^ I see this in me as well... I can be very sensitive to changes between me and other people... Sometimes it is like the water lapping the beach.... It is not a lot but daily things that has an effect -moods of others on a generally normakl day to day routines... Other times it is like a violent storm, large waves that are whitecapping, hitting the beach.... lot of noise, wind and spray... That kind of change in a relationship is overloading, sometimes I do shut down to maintain a level of the ability to maintain functioning...

It seems like may people are concerned about hemselves, aas if everyone is the center of their own universe. I feel pulled like silly putty in 8 or 9 directions at times... More I am able to isolate myself, more I can maintain my sanity, control and less likely to be drawn into others stuff affecting me so much.

It is like approaching a black hole or a planet. Maintain a safe distance without being pulled in. If you get closer, must have enough acceleration (as in time apart to charge) to escape their pull, so I am not sucked in.

I have adapted being around others but still need to be alone from time to time on a regular basis.

The first thing I thought was "not groundbreaking at all," since it really isn't. No one is without empathy; all human beings have feelings and are able to feel for others on some level. I read it as a layman's run-through of the spectrum for people who have never read a single page on it before.

This theory certainly explains some things that the previous understanding didn't. For me, it feels like a lot of blanks have been filled in. Right now my family's watching a sordid crime show on TV right behind me, and I'm wearing headphones and playing loud music because that sort of graphic content... Well, I can't quite describe it. It gives me The Fear.

It's not so much groundbreaking as it is "so they finally caught on".

It's a positive development of course, but it's nothing new to us.