Can trauma from childhood cause autism?

[Rainbow03]

Someone I’ve come across has said that they had been told by a medical person that their child’s autism was caused by being fostered and the trauma.

Ive always thought it was there from birth.

Im asking because I don’t class my childhood as great. I am ND and I also have trauma from a bad marriage. I’m wondering if I was already ND and my parents constantly putting me in situations that overwhelmed me (classed as normal ND people) just caused me to feel worse.

I see what you mean. Some areas over developed and some stifled.
I'm not a doctor and this is off the cuff stuff so I don't suppose I'm being technically as accurate as optimum.
But it brains are plastic and rewiring all the time, so in that sense I suppose there is a 'structural' change at play when someone's mind is affected long term by difficulties and trauma.
Perhaps that would be what the medical person was referring to, and fair comment.
But one night imagine that if your natural potential was different from what you've got you might be able to make some healing progress towards a non traumatised version of oneself. Whereas if autistic wiring is what you were born with there would be less scope for much future difference?

It's all a sliding scale though isn't it. Some traumas are so severe/protracted you'd never realistically expect to fully heal and others would be less so.

Trauma absolutely does restructure the brain. That's what causes CPTSD.

Very severe trauma restructures the brain. This was seen in Romanian orphans who were kept in cribs and ignored for 23 hours or more a day. They were fed with propped up bottles and only touched for basic cleaning.
The kind of trauma most children endure does not do this. It just does not.

Our brains have plasticity though and neural connections are constantly developing and changing. This happens most as children, but does still happen as adults. The neural connections made and not made are impacted by our environment and what happens to us.

@ArchetypalBusyMum thanks for the compliment. I’ve no idea how I’ve got here but I’m knackered and about 5 years ago developed chronic fatigue syndrome, I’m not surprised. But I intend to raise my 2 daughters as best I can making sure I raise the children I have not what want or expect. That’s what I wanted from my mum.

It’s hard because I’m always having to remember to be nice at this point, show empathy at this point, not over look another point….its exhausting remembering all these things.

Look up institutional autism. I think the level of trauma which is talked about in discussions of the cause of autism are not going to be found in a normal family in western Europe. You are talking about long term sensory deprivation, starvation, total social isolation, etc.

Wow that’s a really offensive thing for that person to have said. Of course autism isn’t caused by the behaviour of a care giver. It’s genetic.

Thanks! That's something new to learn.
So structural differences can be similar sometimes in Nd or traumatised people, but the cause would be different.

My eldest DS has ASD and when he was going through his diagnosis. I came across the refrigerator mum theory and it really stressed me out. Cue massive anxiety about whether I had caused his ASD and whether this is what every professional that I spoke to was secretly thinking about me as a mum.
The reality is that our understanding of autism is very misogynistic. I know that I have some form of neurodiversity because all of my teachers commented on how different/quirky/mature for my age/loner I was (this was probably 80s speak for your child is autistic!) I see a lot of myself and my dad in my DS who has autism.

I also threw myself into my studies because this was easier than dealing with people. I was forever getting the wrong end of the stick or being talked into stuff and it’s made me quite anxious. In my 40s now, I’ve realised how easily manipulated I am and I have been in emotionally abusive relationships as a result. I would hate for my DS to experience this throughout his life.

I agree that people with autism (possibly women) are more likely to be in situations of abuse/manipulation which can result in trauma. I don’t think the trauma causes the autism but it is like a vicious circle with one feeding the other unless you can recognise and put a stop to it.

Trauma rarely restructures the brain. That poster is wrong. It has to be extremely severe trauma. So babies and children confined to cots and totally ignored.

Like the poor children from the Romanian programmes from some time ago. The way they were treated was horrific

@Bingoe i didn’t want to get into an argument with the lady. Her child had been in foster care and she fostered from the age of 10. She said she’d spoken to her neuroscientist or whatever the name of the consultant was called and he’d said the child’s autism was caused by abuse before she fostered. I said I thought it was genetic and she said no.

exactly, I wonder how they are doing now? I might start a thread to ask.

And some of us have a history of extremely severe trauma.

@Oneofthesurvivors I am sorry if you were placed in a cot, underfed and not talked to or cuddled for years.

@Oneofthesurvivors yes and I believe it has to be long term trauma. Like being neglected and then going into decades long abusive relationship. Definitely was very traumatic and I’m sure did further damage.

It's genetic and runs in families. I didn't realise I had ADHD until both my kids were diagnosed and I started to recognise quite a lot of myself in their behaviour/struggles (and realised most of my family probably have it but not been diagnosed!)

I think it's more helpful to think as autism as a set of symptoms, I'm pretty sure in years to come this will be the case - they can be caused by a variety of genetic factors, not as simple as a single gene, and can he inherited or be first in the family. Some named syndromes cause autism symptoms, or it can be on its own so to speak. Trauma can't cause the genetics to change but can cause autism type traits. I'm involved in a research project at the moment and it will be interesting to see the outcome in 10-20 years, mostly is having the traits of autism a disability on the increase or is it a case of society being less flexible than in the past to accommodate differences?

That is exactly what happened to me. Don't be a smartarse.

@mitogoshi I think social media is making it worse. All these people where their perceived perfect lives which feel a million miles away from my own life or my own thoughts or what I can obtain. Makes me feel even more different and even more worried about my children.

Sadly her Dad may have been ND and not coping in life so presented as angry and abusive. I’m not excusing the abuse at all, I had a father like this. His behaviour may have been linked to unrecognised ND and unfortunately your Mum took the brunt. Trauma effects definitely’mimic’ abuse because of unmet needs and attachment disorders untreated but as a PP said autism is genetic, epigenetic.

Beautifully said. This is what I have come to believe.

I also believe that one of the most powerful, scary and unexpected environmental events happened to majority of children over the last 4 years. Children who had the most stable, positive and non-triggering lives have experienced something way greater than any of us really imagined. It’s possible we’re only just scratching the surface of the iceberg.

@PTSDBarbiegirl I was just thinking that about the father of my daughter but was worried someone would be hurt if I said could autism cause someone to appear abusive.

This!

Nothing really happened to our children. They just had fewer freedoms than they expected for a while. Not fewer freedoms than children normally have, just fewer freedoms than OUR children normally have. In other parts of the world, lockdowns barely registered, as many children live like that as a norm