“The objective difference between people with autism and the general population will disappear in less than 10 years.”
The number of people diagnosed with autism around the world has risen massively, new research reveals.
In the last fifty years, the prevalence of autism has multiplied by an astonishing 40 times.
In 1966 the prevalence in the US was 0.05 percent — now it is 2 percent.
The seven symptoms or signs of autism are:
- Difficulty reading other people’s emotions.
- Impaired theory of mind: the ability to understand other people’s intentions.
- Lack of cognitive flexibility: finding it hard to switch from one task to another.
- Difficulty planning and sequencing activities.
- Problems with inhibition.
- Being overly sensitive to sounds, noises and other sensory stimulation.
- Enlarged brain volume.
However, new research suggests that the reason autism diagnoses are rising so rapidly is that the definition of autism is broadening.
The research analysed many separate studies including almost 23,000 people with autism.
The results showed that the difference between people with autism and the remainder has narrowed by 50 percent between 1966 and 2019.
Professor Laurent Mottron, study co-author, said:
“This means that, across all disciplines, the people with or without autism who are being included in studies are increasingly similar.
If this trend holds, the objective difference between people with autism and the general population will disappear in less than 10 years.
The definition of autism may get too blurry to be meaningful — trivializing the condition — because we are increasingly applying the diagnosis to people whose differences from the general population are less pronounced.”
In contrast, the definition of another mental health problem, schizophrenia, has remained constant over the years.
What has changed is diagnostic practices for autism, said Professor Mottron:
“Three of the criteria for an autism diagnosis are related to sociability.
Fifty years ago, one sign of autism was a lack of apparent interest in others.
Nowadays, it’s simply having fewer friends than others.
Interest in others can be measured in various ways, such as making eye contact.
But shyness, not autism, can prevent some people from looking at others.”
Although autism can be described along a spectrum, it is still a distinct condition, says Professor Mottron:
“Our study shows that changes in diagnostic practices, which have led to a false increase in prevalence, are what’s fuelling theories that autism doesn’t really exist.
Autism is a natural category at one end of the socialization continuum.
And we need to focus on this extreme if want to make progress.”
“This means that, across all disciplines, the people with or without autism who are being included in studies are increasingly similar.
If this trend holds, the objective difference between people with autism and the general population will disappear in less than 10 years.
The definition of autism may get too blurry to be meaningful — trivializing the condition — because we are increasingly applying the diagnosis to people whose differences from the general population are less pronounced.”
“Three of the criteria for an autism diagnosis are related to sociability.
Fifty years ago, one sign of autism was a lack of apparent interest in others.
Nowadays, it’s simply having fewer friends than others.
Interest in others can be measured in various ways, such as making eye contact.
But shyness, not autism, can prevent some people from looking at others.”
“Our study shows that changes in diagnostic practices, which have led to a false increase in prevalence, are what’s fuelling theories that autism doesn’t really exist.
Autism is a natural category at one end of the socialization continuum.
And we need to focus on this extreme if want to make progress.”
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