The interface of psychotherapy and Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Autistic spectrum disorder is a condition of delayed speech development, impaired emotional responsiveness and a desire for sameness. In early life young people are described as being in a dream world separated from others. The aetiology is mulifactorial but the awareness of transcriptor genes in forming neural synapses increasingly implicates environmental factors. There is anecdotal evidence of improvement through life experience but with increasing frequency and a plethora of treatment options. It is timely to consider the interface of this condition with psychotherapy.
A consideration of ASD as a presentation of anxiety in mother and child is proposed; the infant brain bathed in glucocorticoids. Transcriptor genes are thereby induced or impeded. This study considers the diagnosis made through psychotherapy; the referral of a young male with treatment resistant depression; the therapy for an autistic adolescent with school refusal and depression; the enriching of the emotional environment of parents of children with ASD and treating the trauma of the sibling through therapy through a recognition of autistic features and the adaptation required by the therapist utilising the Conversational Model. The potential of psychotherapy is affirmed where a new form of relatedness can be established.
