Autism--Best Approaches Do NOT Include Psychotropic Drugs

This past few years, besides working on a volunteer basis with adult mental health clients, I have also been working with autistic children as a teacher, part-time. I noticed with surprise (from a clinical point of view) that an extraordinary range of behaviors constituted a diagnoses of autism: everything from behavior which was a bit unfocused to serious rocking back and forth, self-stimulation, no words or eye contact (all symptoms of severe/classic autism).

Because I had heard that these children were suffering from "childhood schizophrenia" and was curious and wanted to help, I had decided to try working with autistic children, in part to investigate. I was struck by how these children, at first glance, appeared so normal. Perhaps they were suffering from a purely non-biological, psychological dysfunction that could be cured through purely psychosocial means (such as I believe is the case with adult mental health problems).

However, after investigating every psychosocial means I could to "reach" these children, I realized that there was, indeed, an underlying biochemical problem of some kind. My first thought, due to my training in psychology (I have a bachelors in clinical psychology from U.C.B.)was some kind of brain injury which affected speech centers. I concluded after reading a few articles on the subject in local alternative health magazines that the mercury contained in vaccinations, a nerve cell toxin, might very well be responsible. These children are certainly suffering from brain and central nervous system damage, which must have come from some sort of toxin. I am not big on the genetic theories of illnesses, as I believe that these theories are reductionist and ignore real problems such as those which might be present in the diet and environment which need to be addressed.

I was alarmed when I heard that autistic children were being administered psychiatric medication, as I am quite familiar with all of the controversy surrounding their safety for adults. I decided to do my own investigation of the literature, to see what was out there on the subject.
I ended up going on a marathon two week information chase which turned everything that I thought I knew about autism upside down. Some, but not all, parents found their children starting showing signs of autism after vaccinations. Others felt it stemmed from birth or from some other variable which occured during the early developmental years.

I found that it has become fairly well established that toxic metals, including extra-high doses of thimerosal (the mercury-containing preservative which was found in excessive amounts in vaccinations prior to 2003), were the environmental toxin in question. It was in trying to find possible sources of toxins that I made my important discovery.

Sources of high amounts of toxic metals in the U.S. include coal- and uranium-processing plants, lead from old lead pipes, run-off from large farms and factory-farms (due to animal waste, pesticide and fertilizer run-off) and fish. Not only do fish in the U.S. now contain very high amounts of mercury, but this contaminated fish comprises the feed grain for 50% of all factory-farmed animals and 90% of all chickenfeed! And because t is well-known among food activists that FDA and Dept. of Agriculture testing for contaminated meat and dairy is poor I hypothesized that food sources of mercury could also contribute to the development of autism. This fact should be researched further.

In any event, I remain concerned about the use of psychotropic medication to control the symptoms of autism. These powerful drugs act upon the body primarily through the nervous system, and could affect development so their use with nerve-damaged children is horrendous.