Comment on If autism is a spectrum, does that mean everyone is on the spectrum?
Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 1 week ago
On the spectrum is short for on the autism spectrum. What that realky means is that there are several characteristics, all of which are spectrums themselves, which have a subset that is associated with autism. There is basically a formula for calculating a score that combines them and if it is in a certain range, they call it autism.
All and all, autism is a syndrom, which means they don’t know what causes it or even what it is. They just take a bunch of people who have similar symptoms and lump them under a syndrome so they can try and study it better. Same as IBS. Most likely there are multiple different causes that may very well be unrelated.
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
That’s a common theme in psychology. We’ve built this house of cards on opinions, observations and beliefs. Neurobiology and statistics are gradually beginning to pull the rug under the mess we call psychology.
It took us a few hundred years to go from medieval alchemy to modern biochemistry, and the same should apply to psychology as well. Check back in a hundred years or so to see if it’s any better. My guess is, it’s going to take 200 years to figure out what autism even is, how to classify it, how to test for it and so on.
We have a very long way to go, so the current terms are only marginally useful. Don’t take them too seriously just yet.
Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I very much agree on the don’t take the terms too seriously. They are just labels. Not entirely arbitrary, but still mostly arbitrary. That said, I do think we are due for a medical revolution anytime now. So I don’t think 200 years. But certainly plenty more time.