New view on mental health

[Finallylostit]

Read this today. This Doctor is refreshingly honest and a thought provoking perspective on the explosion in the mental health industry

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14576559/REAL-cause-explosion-autism-depression-psychiatrist-DR-ALISTAIR-SANTHOUSE.html

@AnnieMaud thank you for the OU link I’ve just signed up.

Yeah, I’m not sure that’s what they poster said.

I have long wondered about the diagnosis of autism and how it presents so differently from one person to the next. In those most severely affected,; is it a case of those individuals having comornid conditions which manifest as they do because of the underlying autism? I don't know but it seems crazy to me that Sarah off tiktok who dances to list the symptoms of her autism is classed as having the same condition as John who is non verbal, unable to meet the most basic of his own needs such as continence and is unable to communicate verbally.

Again you’re missing the point. The severity impacts treatment abs support but it dissent change the condition itself. And you aren’t - as a lay person - able to measure impact. That’s down to the professionals. You’re also making assumptions that your perception of severity actually matters. The non verbal autistic person might not have intellectual delays. The autistic adult with intellectual delays might be the happiest soul. And, like I said, the child in a mainstream school with friends might not be able to use a toilet. Or have significant mental health needs.

They don’t have the same condition. They both have AN ‘autism spectrum condition’ - it’s a spectrum…

sorry, that doesn't make sense.
Downs syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality therefore very easy to ascertain.
Autism isn't

AUTISM is ALIKE in that it CAN be tested for; its IMPACT on the person may DIFFER; but you either have it or you don’t.

not responding to you any further.

You’re aware that’s because of underfunding right? Advisory services are now becoming traded. You cannot access any professional advice at all within schools unless you pay for it and CAMHS only see children if they’re an immediate imminent threat to life. Suicide attempt doesn’t qualify if deemed not serious. It’s an absolute nightmare for educators and parents. The end result of the underfunding and lack of early support is that an increasing number of children now have escalating and serious SEMH needs that cannot be met by mainstream schools. This is entirely due to under resourced and under funded provision.

Why are we pulling apart autism diagnosis yet again. It wasn’t even what the crappy article was about.

This x1000%

It’s not spectrum diagnostically. They have the same diagnosis. But assumptions have been made about need. You can dance to music and have significant issues. You can also dance to music and not be significantly impacted. The impact of ASD is, as has been discussed many times, huge. And that’s fine. I don’t know why people demand such a narrow range for this. We don’t for anything else.

Oh the goady anti autism posters are out again. Would have thought it’s obvious why she’s angry.

I’m going to assume genuine intent from you rather than you just trying to upset others.

Being autistic is often very disabling for the individual. How that looks varies. No one is disputing that. But there is no place for judgment in this nor assumptions. The only people who know the impact are the autistic individuals and their caregivers if they need them.

My cousin was diagnosed as "autistic" among other learning disabilities. She is, basically, a two-year old in her forties: incontinent, non-verbal and so on. Why adding an autism diagnosis to a person with severe brain damage always struck me as bizarre.

I'm baffled as to why it seems offensive to state downs syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality and autism isn't.
I'm commenting on ease of diagnosis which is what the thread is about.
Why is that offensive?

What caused the “severe brain damage”?

Because that wasn’t the point that was being made. The point is you’re autistic or you are not. You aren’t a bit autistic anymore than you’re a bit Down’s syndrome.

I'm autistic and I function well in some environments and terribly in others. I'm the same person and both are true of me

My dentist for example sees me with noise cancelling headphones, predominantly non verbal, very obviously doing the things that help eg hand movements and physical grounding techniques. I have big flags on the system and have to take "someone" with me as per dentist requesr. I have a somewhat limited diet that isn't great teeth wise, can't engage with photos of teeth eg xrays and really really struggle with anything teeth wise including brushing sensory wise.

My dentist assumed my wife was a paid carer and that I lived with "support" etc, that i need to be getting more input from teams etc and they put all contact through her

The rest of the time, I'm a manager in the NHS in the very team he tried to refer me to. I line manage staff, have a successful career etc. I sometimes wear loops but generally am a world apart from the person my dentist sees because the dentist is a perfect storm of trigger stacking for me.

90% of the people I encounter would put me at one end of the spectrum, my dentist genuinely thought I couldn't live independently.

Its just not clear cut.

It has to exist because someone told me their child is partially autistic and somewhat dislexyc.

My child for example does not have diagnoses so in forums when I need infos I might say she is ND but in real life she is just NT with sensitivities.

yes, also my child gets on with life just absolutely fine LOL. Few sensitivities will only enrich her life rather than disable it

There is no such thing as partially autistic.

Why are you telling people your child is ND if they’re not? That’s weird.

Yes, and frankly in many cases it's not just severity. There are fairly high functioning kids and adults, and then some, more recently, who IMO aren't even that, they are are people with some similarities in personality traits. ANd then you have people like my niece who will never live alone, who will do things like smear menstrual blood on the wall, who can only speak in pre-digested phrases from TV shows. And there are also people who are much worse off who are totally non-verbal, violent, self-harming, who can't even be left alone.

In certain autism groups you will see the idea that these people have "co-morbidities" so their real issue isn't autism. Ignoring that autism is in fact their diagnosis - that's just supposition. There is actually very little reason to think that all of these people have the same problems or the same causes.

I think a lot of people believe that diagnosis of many conditions is much more objective than it in fact is. Just because people have developed a test, and it's been put into general use, does not mean its a great test or defines a condition correctly. Any close study of the history of these kinds of diagnosis will show that they change all the time, get debunked, etc. Psychologists love to develop these kinds of tests but that doesn't necessarily mean they are very good tests.

If you are wondering about it there is a lot of information out there to read. For example the very idea of the spectrum, and that different autistic people will have differences in different aspects, some of which are more visible than others.

I also think it's worth pointing out here that not all autistic people do have the same diagnosis as such. For example, some are also diagnosed with a language or learning disability. Some have a high IQ. All are disabled in order to be diagnosed but this shows up in different ways due to the nature of the spectrum disorder.

The point is that no one really knows that, or what it means. It's just a label being applied based on some symptoms. The may or may not reflect a similar profile in terms of physiology, disease history, the causes. They really have very little idea.