The Origins of Asperger's Syndrome - A theory

Post Reply New Topic

Dear WrongPlaneteers,

I have been constructing a theory on the Origins of Asperger's Syndrome.

Here is my theory.

I believe that at a given moment our father's production sparm) or our mother production of egg(s) and/or her pregnancy, either our father or mother or both were exposed to either danger or fear that caused long or short-term stress.

This long or short-term exposure caused either or both parents to produce adrenaline to compensate with that stressful situation. The adrenaline was either stored in the sperm, or egg, or (in the case of pregnancy) was 'fed' to the fetus through the placenta.

The adrenaline, this is my theory, caused the fetus' brain to develope differently than the brain of a fetus that was not exposed to this unusual high level of adrenaline. This the difference between Aspies and NTs

I believe that this sensitivity to adrenaline, has also created the Aspie instincts. Aspies were 'made' to sense and be more sensitive to fear and danger. Our brains were structured to interact with our envirinment through a filter of highly critical judgement. We were designed to be apprehensive to other's behaviors and always seek and be sensitive to more details and information as a way to perceive danger faster and thus better protect our selves.

I believe that this was a natural selection process that came to be as a way to protect our human species.

If a tribe was in either short or long-term danger, nature made sure that the tribe's future generation(s) were beter adopted to this fearful and subsequently stressful environment by:

1. creating children more perceptfull of their environment and each tiny detail, so they could protect themselves easier because they would notice things faster.

2. creating children that did not have as well developed social instincts so that if one was to become the victim of the source of the fear, the rest would not be devasted by the loss, in the same way that animals that are hunted, can go on living easily after one of them has fallen prey to the lions. Thus the children born out of the fear/stress, have this self-preservation instinct much more developed than the social interaction instinct.

3. creating children that had higher IQ and ability to produce practical solutions that would help them survive in a situation where their lives would be frequently threatend.

4. creating children who could easily live alone in case the tribe was extinct, and they had to survive on their own.

5. creating children that could work as a team without the emotional balast, by focusing on the task that had to be done than the emotional interactions, that would waste their energy and time, because emotions become more prominent in situations were danger is prominent. These children had to be able to focus their energy on menatl processes than emotional issues to survive.

6. creating children that had life long obsessions, so that each would have a specific skill and expertise that could be contributed to the benefit of the group by offering a diversity of high qualifications.

7. creating children that could bridge the gender differences more easily, and that is why, I feel, aspie men and women care less about the social gender roles that society prescribes. This andogynus ability, I feel, was necessary because in a situation of danger both genders had to fight and also care for their young. So, the women could be both mothers as well as fighters, and the fathers could easily replace the mothers if they fell prey.

This is my Asperger's Syndrome origin theory.

Aspies are simply children born with specfic instincts out of nature's way to ensure their survival. The only problem is that in today's society such skills as the ones that Aspies carry in their bodies and minds have become obsolite and Aspies are seen as abnormal instead of a specialized form of the human being built for extreme wear and teare. And I know that because most, if not all, of Aspies are capable of living a life with much higher levels of stress than our NT counterparts without the side effects that Nts suffer.

Aspie bodies can take this elevated amounts of stress because their genetic build up originating from the sperm/egg or during our fetal development was based on higher levels of adrenaline. Aspies are the enhanced human model, not an abnormality.

That is also why many Aspies do not need psychotherapy for things that NTs need it for. Aspies need psychotherapy to deal with the way society treats them and how they are placed in a minority position as abnormalities rather that the human enhanced species they are.

Cause that is what Aspies are: The fear/stress enhanced model of human beings.

Star

The problem with this theory is that

1) Natural selection is the process in which a species has the advantage of being able to adapt in a particular environment so that it could spawn more offspring to pass on the genetic material.

2) Genetic traits are not acquired nor are they created. Genetic traits are spontaneously mutated. In most cases, this makes an organism unable to pass on genetic material to the next generation. But in some cases, it is beneficial. There is no special reason that "Aspies" exist any more than there is for an "NT" to exist.

3) Adrenaline is produced in the body in response to a flight or fight reaction. It is unrelated to reproduction.

Last edited by MolotovCocktail on 29 Mar 2007, 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Fear causing changes in one's DNA sounds fascinating but do you have any evidence to back this up?

I do not have proof that is why it is a theory.

But this theory can be tested if DNA is taken from tribes that still live in the Amazon region, or Africa and compared to the DNA of diagnosed Aspies in the Western world I am SURE that there will be genetic similarities.

This why, I believe, primite tribes seem to get along much better than the civilized world.

As someone else said here is WP in another forum discussion:
"Anyone notice how little real conflict goes on here, considering there are 10,000 members? Smaller boards see a lot more conflict and real, serious turf wars because of NT conversation rules. People seem to say what they mean and there aren't too many war of words, or bullying going on."

Star

A theory is something that can explain a wide range of phenomena and can make predictions consistently. Technically, what you posted was a hypothesis.

As for other forums, I have not observed any conflict taking place in all of the ones I've been to. Smaller boards do not necessarily have more conflict than larger boards.

Maybe you are right hypothesis would have been a better word choice than theory!

About the conflict issue, that is a quote. I found that in the forum about the roots of AS.

Star

Interesting idea, but there are a LOT of things wrong with it. For one, simple adrenaline can't cause all the changes. There is too much logical evidence to back that up. A lot of autism seems to be based on the paternal line(just going by my own, and other observations here, and the garbage about the fathers age). I certainly can't explain that, but a lot DO seem to indicate that. There is little adrenaline that could be transmitted by the male, and it would be short lived. HECK, the average life expectancy of sperm is less than 6 days! EVEN the woman can't transmit an appreciable amount of adrenaline without it going through the placenta. The placenta could transmit a LOT of adrenaline though(assuming it would be let through), and that could go on for many months. If adrenaline has ANY chance of affecting the child, THAT would have to be it. That would likely affect ALL children born at that time. They ALSO haven't noticed such differences between animals in the wild under stress and domesticated ones under relative comfort.

Steve

Here's the big gap in the theory that would have to be addressed - our lack of ability to read faces, eyes and body language actually makes us much more vulnerable to harm. Also, most of us start out life very open and outgoing. We become cautious as we have bad encounters with NTs who react badly to us because we can't figure out why. That inability to figure out why is a serious disadvantage. We might have some sensory hypersensitivity, but we don't have sensitivity to the reactions and responses of humans, who would be our greatest enemy.

As to the stress theory, that wasn't the case before I was born. My parents were both under much greater stress when my brothers were born. Their stress was mostly gone by the time I came along. I don't know what the parents of others were like.

Actually, I believe that the main enemy would have been predatory animals, not other humans that is why reading faces and body languiage was unecessary.

And what you said about your parents actually fits this hypothesis. The stress that your parets experienced before you were born, caused 'changes' in their bodies that were then stored in the father's sperm (as men sem to be more sensitive to stress than women and that is why many more men die from heart attacks than women do).

This means that the organ (testicles) that produced the sperm that was used to fertilize your mom's egg to produce you, had gone through a period of stress. And this is exactly my hypothesis!! ! Stress --> changes in organs --> Aspie kids

Star

*sigh*

Adrenaline is not related to reproduction, nor does it affect reproduction in any way. Adrenaline is a chemical created as a response to the fight or flight reaction. And living with stress is not adapting to an environment, nor does it enhance any abilities. Rather, stress is known to impair abilities.

I'm not so sure about the hypothesis itself, but the idea of natural selection is food for thought. Look at it this way: from what we can tell, the percentage of population that falls somewhere on the autistic spectrum is increasing, and has been for some time. The fact, in and of itself, that the NT "brain type" is shrinking in proportion to the autistic "brain type," would be grounds to consider an evolutionary predilection, whatever that might be. You could make the argument that this is so because we are no longer "out in the wild" - and thus a group of people which would have been at a disadvantage in prehistoric, ancient, or medieval times is only allowed to expand in modern society because of the relative lack of danger, but that's only a matter of perspective. There's a relative lack of danger only because of technological advances, of which (and let's be honest here) autistic people probably had a disproportional hand in participation. In this society, primal and aggressive emotions that would have benefited a prehistoric man only serve now to lessen his chance of survival. Think about it.

Just because Adrenaline is a hormone, it's theoretically possible that it could have some kind of undiscovered effect on reproduction... Anyway, there's no reason to be condescending to Star.

ACTUALLY, most is DRAMATICALLY different! Haven't you noticed most tribes are black, and a LOT of aspies are white.



Actually, primitive tribes are smaller, have a hierarchy of respect, religion and/or fear, and can overthrow oppressors. ALSO, their lives are simpler, and theft is near impossible. So they are LESS likely to have problems, etc... So you lose any ability to make such comparisons. BTW their behaviour is contrary to aspies anyway!



HEY, most real aspies have been bullied enough. I don't know why. I don't even think I ever asked, but I NEVER understood! When I was in a military boarding school, one jerk was caught in the act of bullying me. He was asked by a security person why. You know what he said? That I wasn't aggressive enough and this was his way of HELPING me!! !! UNREAL! He couldn't give ONE reasonable reason for even having any anger towards me!

ALSO, the people that are here for this board are more interested in understanding themselves, others, and improving themselves! That is why I am here!

Steve

It may be possible that adrenaline has some effect not yet discovered, but the point is it has not been observed. The reason I am criticizing Star's theory is because it is based on assumptions rather than observed phenomena. Star has to demonstrate that adrenaline does indeed produce offspring that have Aspergers Syndrome.

When posting a theory, you are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts.

Maybe that is why (as you very well said) 'Genius is an abnormality' ?!?!?!

Star