Mental Illness

Mental Illness

Mental Illness: Autism
Winge Wade
July 16, 2011
Dr. David Rodvien

Mental Illness: Autism
    Autism is a growing disorder that mainly affects young children and is diagnosed by the age of three.   It is also known as the Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD) due to the fact it is one in a group of other disorders with similar symptoms that affect patients at a young age.   Though there is not a cure for this particular disorder, early treatment can make a huge difference in the child’s mental development as they get older.   Autism typically affects the way a child communicates (both on a social and individual level) and behavioral receptiveness.   For their social skills typical signs are poor eye contact, failure to respond to his/her name, and is unaware of others feelings.   On a more behavioral level children with autism perform repetitive movement, become disturbed at the slightest change in routines or rituals, and learn usually at a lot slower rate than other kids the same age.  
    Starting in the early 1900’s the word Autism was pinned by a Swiss psychiatrist named Eugene Bleuler to refer to young patients with a group of symptoms linked to schizophrenia.   “In the 1940s, researchers in the United States began to use the term ‘autism’ to describe children with emotional or social problems. Leo Kanner, a doctor from Johns Hopkins University, used it to describe the withdrawn behavior of several children he studied” (WebMD, 2009). Though as the years progressed and more studies were made on young patient that had these symptoms, concepts and misconceptions were made and the overall view of Autism changed.   Some of the myths and misconceptions about Autism that were once believed but we proved invalid were: 1. Autism was caused by poor parenting; 2.Autism is a symptom that is caused by a developmental language disorder; 3. Autism is linked to schizophrenia. “While it was at first thought that autism might be an early form of childhood...