Child's Autism Linked to Parents' Mental Illness

[Taximom]

Thanks, bnhall. :blowkiss: I wish these studies were available in whole to the general public. My niece has some type of subscription where she can get me the articles. I find when a reporter (even an intelligent one!) writes about these...they don't often include the real important info...just the big headline. Argh.

 

[bnhall]

Thanks, bnhall. :blowkiss: I wish these studies were available in whole to the general public. My niece has some type of subscription where she can get me the articles. I find when a reporter (even an intelligent one!) writes about these...they don't often include the real important info...just the big headline. Argh.

Yeah, I stopped trusting mainstream media science reporting when I heard Dr. Sanjay Gupta repeatedly get viruses and bacteria confused.

 

[iNTERESTEDWOMAN]

I knew I'd get slapped, but I thought it would be verbally! LOL There has to be some humor in this. Remember back in the 50's and 60's it WAS blamed on 'cold' mothers....

pixies :blowkiss:

:crazy: Oh yes, the famous "Refrigerator Mothers"...The first time I heard that I though they were blaming over eating for autism...LOL :waitasec: Sadly I did gain about 60 pounds when I was preggers with my ASD son...my mother was dieing of cancer all throughout my pregnancy, and died about 3 weeks before he was born. Nice neighbors brought over more hams and pies than I care to count! Talk about the bloat!

 

[Taximom]

Yeah, I stopped trusting mainstream media science reporting when I heard Dr. Sanjay Gupta repeatedly get viruses and bacteria confused.

Not, NOT, not Dr. Gupta!!??!! lol Dang.

I have funny feelings about the latest doc on Oprah's show. But that's just IMO and way off-topic.

 

[Taximom]

:crazy: Oh yes, the famous "Refrigerator Mothers"...The first time I heard that I though they were blaming over eating for autism...LOL :waitasec: Sadly I did gain about 60 pounds when I was preggers with my ASD son...my mother was dieing of cancer all throughout my pregnancy, and died about 3 weeks before he was born. Nice neighbors brought over more hams and pies than I care to count! Talk about the bloat!

Oh man, that had to be hard to go through. ((hugs)) (not the food part! lol )

Not to place MORE blame on you (where it doesn't belong), but I've read (somewhere) that trauma DURING pregnancy can cause problems for the child later on in life, but dang it if I can remember what else that report said. That was years ago.

I think we are just given the children we are given and have to do the best for them that we can, and NOT feel guilt over it. I do wish we could stop it from happening in this next generation though.

 

[Spazkat9696]

I wonder if they looked into what kind of treatment, if any, these mothers received when they were pregnant? I know my docs tried to get me to take antidepressants when I was preggers because my DH was in Iraq, but I refused. I was a pharmacy tech at the time, and I knew that no matter what the doctors said about the safety of certain drugs during pregnancy they are never tested on pregnant woman. Just like drugs are never tested on children. Yet doctors have no trouble telling us how safe they are and not to worry. We as a society just want a pill to make everything better at the moment not thinking about the long term results.

 

[OneLostGrl]

oh my-powerful action, OLG. I know that there is suffering that comes with bi-polar as well as other mental illnesses...a lot from misunderstanding and the desire to shun things that cannot be "fixed," IMO.

BUT-I subscribe to the "Equus" theory so to speak-A world of cookie cutter psyches and intellect would be boring at the minimum, and would most likely cause us to be extinct. The reason I feel this way is that I have seen some incredible genius in moments of mania-some of the most brilliant and talented people I know have been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bi-polar/manic depression. i can say the same for Aspbergers and lots of other "versions" of autism. What may seem to be a defect in behavior may ultimately end up some day being a more evolved brain...who can say for sure at this point?

I struggle with the concept of medicating all of it away....I hope I haven't offended anyone.

Great post! It would be lovely if we could pick and choose which "ism's" we'd like to keep and which we'd like medicated away. I'm not offended- you make some very good points!

My suffering didn't come from misunderstanding, I researched the hell out of Bipolar and asked my diagnosing doc millions of questions. I never shunned my illness, in fact once finally diagnosed I welcomed my DX of Bipolar disorder with open arms. Finally, finally there was a reason- and treatment, which meant hope! There was hope for me.. that I embraced!

My illness had progressed to a point where even my mania's had become unproductive which is often the case as a manic episode unfolds. My mania's were mixed & rapid and angry and I had episodes of psychosis. I had times where I was unable to care for my child. There were also times I couldn't drive because I was plauged by thoughts of driving into telephone poles and trees- it sometimes took all I had inside of me not to.

I was in and out of Psychiatric wards, sometimes I'd sign myself in because I needed to be in a safe place (safe from myself). However, more often than not, I was forced against my will because either my meds stopped working or because of suicide attempts or Psychotic episodes. I gave myself Liver damage and put myself in a Coma.

In the years prior to proper treatment I hurt more people then I care to go into here. I was manipulative and selfish, I was a petty criminal, a cheater, a liar, a drug addict and a thief. I was a bad influence on my child and I was a sh!tty wife.

My whole life I thought all of these things (and the other stupid stuff I did) defined who I was... that they were character flaws. I could never understand the things I did, why I did them. I never made sense to myself and I despised me for that. In turn, I never believed anyone who said they loved me.. how could they?!

I have been in treatment and on the right cocktail of Psychiatric medications as well as clean from pills for almost 6 years. It has been 6 years since I have been arrested (a record for me LOL) and I have been off of probation for 2 years. It has been 1 year this month since I finally earned back my drivers license which had been suspended since 2000. I just bought a car that I make the payments on, without financial help from my husband.

These seem like no big deal to a "normal" person but for me they are as close to a miracle as I have ever been. I wake up in the morning and am thankful! I never knew that feeling until I was 30 years old, had never known what it felt like to want to live!


I do understand where you are coming from though, as many of societies gifted scientists, artists, writers and religious leaders have suffered from Bipolar and have gotten well, causing society as a whole to benefit because of their suffering.

The day my son came to me and told me he was having thoughts of suicide was the most difficult day of my life because my worst fear was coming true. My child didn't have monsters hiding under his bed like most children, he had monsters in his head and I knew this was just the beginning.

I wouldn't wish my "past" life on an enemy let alone my child. Evolved brain or not, I wouldn't bring a child into the world knowing the suffering it would have to endure. Any child that I give birth to has a 50% chance of ending up with Bipolar disorder. I think all of this has to be balanced together considering at least one in five Bipolar sufferers attempt suicide.

Your post made me think of this quote from the book "An Unquiet Mind"


"I have often asked myself whether, given the choice, I would choose to have manic-depressive illness. If lithium were not available to me, or didn't work for me, the answer would be a simple no... and it would be an answer laced with terror. But lithium does work for me, and therefore I can afford to pose the question. Strangely enough, I think I would choose to have it. It's complicated... I honestly believe that as a result of it I have felt more things, more deeply; had more experiences, more intensely; loved more, and have been more loved; laughed more often for having cried more often; appreciated more the springs, for all the winters... Depressed, I have crawled on my hands and knees in order to get across a room and have done it for month after month. But normal or manic I have run faster, thought faster, and loved faster than most I know."

-- Kay Redfield Jamison