The social ties between autism and schizophrenia

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Eugen Bleuler, in about 1911, wrote that people with schizophrenia (called dementia praecox then) had an autistic mindset because they isolate themselves from others.

Even Hans Asperger referred to his study subjects as exhibiting symptoms of "autistic psychopathy." He wasn't referring to socio/psychopaths.

There is a reason why autism was known as "childhood schizophrenia" when the first diagnoses came in; the two have more than a little overlap in symptoms

Autism was associated with "Childhood Schizophrenia"---but I don't believe Kanner's kids would have been diagnosed with it. There was a separate "autism" category even in 1943, known as "Infantile Autism." Believe it or not, "Infantile Autism lasted into the 1980s.

I was diagnosed with an outmoded condition: I was considered "brain-damaged." Also with Autism.

When I was in 6th grade, my speech therapist thought I had it so she was trying to convince the other school staff I had it and to watch for signs all because my mom told her I heard too many voices, my exact words, when I meant too many people were talking.

I know Wikipedia used to have an article on schizotypal autism , but it's since disappeared. Said to originate from a schizotypal continuum rather than an autistic spectrum.

I remember watching the Temple Grandin movie in school last year. And there was a flashback scene that showed Temple when she was 4. It was her and her mom in a DR office. And the DR said that Temple had schizophrenia. And I didn't know that schizophrenia and autism were related. But I don't know if that part of the movie was accurate or not.

I'm not sure that it's physiologically possible to be both: from what I have read, autism results from a lack of neurological pruning during a critical phase of childhood and schizophrenia from an excess of neurological pruning. Maybe if there is a lack of pruning in some area of the brain but and excess in another area? I'm not sure how likely that is though, because I don't remember what areas of the brain the lack of pruning in autistic brains and the excess of pruning in schizophrenic brains happens.

Editing to add: I have seen someone else comment about this here before, possibly Chronos? I can't remember for sure who it was, but it wasn't that long ago. But surely there is someone here more familiar with the neurological research, that's bound to be someone's special interest.

From what have read and observed autism is related to schizophrenia in the same way that autism is related to tooth decay. A person who is dxd with autism can also be dxd with having tooth decay. The two conditions can be "comorbid". But the two are not really "related".

I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia form disorder when I was around 13. Or maybe is was accurate and I stopped having schizophrenia symptoms. Although now that I'm more educated about OCD that's what it really felt like - intrusive thoughts that I knew couldn't be real but they wouldn't stop, and I kept obsessing and doing weird things to make them stop. They went away eventually as well. I don't know, everything seemed to happen when I turned 12 and then it was my brain that really went haywire and not my hormones.

But schizophrenia and OCD are illnesses while autism is not. But being a female it's not surprising I was never diagnosed with Aspergers until I was an adult.