A Theory of Autism

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I wanted to take a moment to share a theory I've come up with regarding autism. I want to say up front, this is my unique idea I've come up with due to introspection and my limited knowledge of the brain. If you link to research or other ideas similar ideas, that just means somebody else came up with the same theory I have, but they did so before I did.

The brain goes into different levels of consciousness, the most obvious being a state of sleep and a state of being awake. Somebody in a coma would be in an even lower state of consciousness than somebody who is asleep, for instance. My theory is that autism is a state of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness. That would mean that the different levels or endless spectrums of autism would be explained by two different things: 1) Each autistic has a different level of consciousness 2) Obviously, brains are different so other differences in spectrum could be explained by the fact that each of us are different.
However, the more extreme differences such as one autistic's inability to talk vs. another autistic's ability to speak would be tied more to a difference in their state of consciousness.

This idea came about due to my attempts to try to be introspective. I'm constantly trying to understand myself and how I can find my way through this world socially and otherwise. In doing so I came to the conclusion that I just don't seem to be "all there". Obviously I determined that not being "all there" is a pretty non-specific and unscientific statement so I wanted to be able to better explain my state of mind. Overtime I began to realize that my brain not being "all there" appeared to be a lower level of alertness then is normal. And I ultimately came to the conclusion this didn't stem from being "dumb" so much as seeming to be in a lower state of consciousness.

Let's take a "neurotypical" person who hasn't had enough sleep and let's think about how they are effected by that lack of sleep. When they walk, they are going to be less coordinated. They will display poorer posture with stopped shoulders. Their walk pattern/mannerisms (gait) will appear more robotic. When they speak, they will speak less precisely and with poorer annunciation of words and may even slur their words. Their ability and desire to socialize will be greatly reduced. They will exhibit significantly poorer executive function. I could go on.

The implications of this theory are interested. This theory would imply that the autistic brain is fully intact it's just not fully "activated". Portions of the brain that are able to fully operate are either not operating at all or are not operating the their fullest ability. Since sleep and various states of consciousness are managed by hormones and neurotransmitters, this theory would indicate that administering some form of drug therapy/stimulant would "wake" an autistic person up to full consciousness, and this type of therapy would work either on an ongoing basis or temporarily.

The general understanding of autism today is that autistic people have brains that are flooded by sensory information. What if that is caused by their middle level of consciousness where the brain is not fully "awake" but not in a state of sleep either. This would imply that the flooding of sensory information would be a method used by the brain to wake a neurotypical person up to a full state of wakefulness but stops once that neurotypical person is fully awake. However, in a person who is autistic, the sensory flood continues throughout their lesser state of consciousness because the brain is attempting to fully wake the autistic person. To use a computer analogy, it's like having different computers stuck in various boot sequences. Some computers are almost fully booted up while others can't even get into the beginning stages of the user interface.

If this were true, what this would mean is that autism spectrum disorder is really a disorder of the brain's ability to come to a fully awake state. As a result, the disorder should then be viewed as such and then studies should be done to induce wakefulness in the autistic brain. The more I think about this, the more I think it would at least be a possibility to consider.

I don't think it's like sleeping.
I think it's more like being withdrawn in an inner world, thinking up elaborate theories like you are doing now.
But do enjoy your theorizing and mabe refine it a bit.

I don't think it's like sleeping. I think it's like being awake, just not fully awake. Hopefully that refines my theory for you a bit.

To the op, to me it's inspirational that you are trying to think about this stuff, and a great mental exercise, as we can observe our own functioning in present time to gain further insight into how things work.

My opinion: the 'ultimate' theory of autism will be both simple and elegant, but not too simple.

One possible problem with your theory is that many people are walking around in a semi-trance state. Also, if you do happen to consider what was called asperger's syndrome to be a form of autism, then many aspies, and I have met many, are quite alert and on par with many nt's, so if they are autistic and on the spectrum, what would be the commonality in functioning between these different levels of autism, if there even is a commonality, and psycho:-) therapists did not just make it up?

I feel like the "intense world" theory applies in my case.

Autism has many different causes---so, perhaps, one theory might be applied to one person; another to another person.

Thanks. I feel like it kind of applies in my case, too, but I will have to look at it again. As I recall from years ago when I did look at it, I thought that theory is brilliant, but over-complex, and in some way lacking in elegance, with not enough emphasis on the personality. The latter can be spoken about in very simple language and in a very simple way. By elegant I mean, for example, you can put a beautiful dress on a certain woman, but that does not make it elegant. It is how she wears it. If this is applied to mental processing of data, sometimes something, maybe even just one thing, or a simple set, explains a lot of things, and then the understanding begins to fall into place very easily.

I think it's more an issue of processing information.

I can pick up things on a computer screen faster than my very alert non-autistic cousin..

A therapist psychologist that examined me had a theory that it's when there are different types of information then my processing isn't so good.

I think I have memory issues too, which may be related to the type of information.. and if I think about the information then I can forget what the information is.

That's an interesting theory, I haven't thought of autism that way before.
From what I've read, autism is related to poor synaptic function and changes in brain "wiring" that occur as a corollary of that, and I can see how having poor synaptic function could produce a result similar to a reduced state of consciousness.
But I'm wary of your supposition that there might be a potential treatment that would bring the brain more fully awake. Because if synaptic function and brain wiring are the issues, the problem is not as simple as altering states of alertness, as "awakening" would imply. Possibly there might be treatments which improve synaptic function (for instance, antidepressant medication), but these would not address the differences in brain wiring, which are likely to be less amenable to alteration.
Just my 2c

no doubt there are unchangeables(due to the mush/hardware we have), and changeables.

TMS might help, lights up brain areas. It worked for well known author on autism, john robinson.

I might suggest an alternative or even opposite view. Rather than an Aspergers mind being half asleep, it is twice as awake. Things seem more intense resulting from a neurology that is either faster, more complex, or both.

This free pdf booklet describes this view;

http://christianpioneer.com/blogarchiev ... e_2017.pdf