Curing Autism May not be as bad as you think

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I have heard stories about people who have done social experiments and have used drugs like MDMA and they felt better and more "normal" if you will. It didn't take away their talents or nothing but just made them more uninhibited.

Inhibition doesn't equal social blindness. It could be an aid for social anxieties, but not a cure,

Attentuation or maximisation of traits can occur when various neurotransmitter levels change, and they change all the time, with drugs or without. Many drugs and amino acids have that effect. Conflating these temporary effects with a cure is not very helpful at the end of the day.

You're confusing treatments with a cure. I don't know anyone who has a problem with treatments.

As for using MDMA, aka ecstasy. Well, it's illegal because it is dangerous. There is some good evidence that it can help people if used properly. There's also good evidence that some people simply don't react well, and that there is a real threat of harm if used in the wrong environment. I for one would like to see it more available. But I would not like to see this used on children. It is too unstable a situation. Only people who are able to consent should be involved.

The title to this thread is mis-leading.

Should this be moved to adult issues? What's the policy here on drug conversations?

I would simply like to see some training seminars on coping mechanisms:

How to read body language, how to make small talk, how to handle common social situations, etc.

I've taken MDMA and I don't think it makes me more 'normal', though it is a pleasant high.

I've wanted to try this, but doing it while on SSRIs is very dangerous so I can't right now.

Treating individual, problematic symptoms is not the same as a cure. A cure would take away all influence of autism, including the parts that are helpful. And if there was ever a cure that could be applied to adults, it would cheapen the hard work that goes into turning these "downsides" into advantages. I would love to get rid of my social anxiety and learn more social skills, but I wouldn't want to give up the way I think in general, how I often make unique connections that helps me be a good artist.

Losing inhibition via drugs often means thinking you are more "normal" when the opposite is occuring

The people who've done this are using such minute doses that it doesn't really cause much loss of inhibition. Most accounts I've heard of this practice also include friends and family remarking on the improved social function of the practitioner. Obviously this is anecdotal, but it is worth nothing.

Well, a person could drink alcohol constantly and be very socially outgoing. I suppose the pharma companies would love to put us all on MDMA, which would probably have very similar downsides to constant alcohol consumption.

Wall Street's big pharma has put so many people on mind-altering substances already that the rehab industry is booming. I'd rather avoid all this, and find ways to function within my limitations. Taking drugs in order to suck up to others' expectations seems to me to be a bad choice.

Sure they are, they keep saying we don't need to be fixed. Researchers have been looking into MDMA and other therapies that may help the social issues with Autism. Besides, not everything that is illegal is dangerous if you think so, then you have been lied to.

Well stevens, I'd rather put a shotgun shell through my brain than go on a fool's errand like "function[ing] within my limitations". Autism is a neurological defect in my view, and even if the whole world accepted I still would not. I need pharmaceuticals to approximate ideal brain function.

What's bring talked about here is not like getting wasted. It's taking MDMA in doses too small to cause a high or even be consciously noticeable. Allegedly, this causes improved functioning, not just the perception of it. Keep in mind, Ecstasy was medicine before it was a street drug.

There's no money to be made with MDMA and it's very often a drug of abuse that NT's would probably abuse even more. It can't be taken daily or it would make the symptoms worse anyway, it's meant as a temporary therapy.

I don't think you guys are any better than NT's if you don't wish to even consider the expectations of others. So many of you just say, just be yourself even if that means having no empathy for other people.

In my experience, I have not had any impaired abilities and talents with treatment protocols. I have taken mind altering substance that really have seemed to reduce the emotional and social issues to some extent and I wasn't nearly as sensitive to rejection as my ordinary autistic self. I would say I have done better at work and with peers.

I was on an SSRI for generalized anxiety disorder. It eventually cured the GAD and then went on to start causing disinhibition. That started making me increasingly reckless and aggressive. That's a potential side effect of taking away inhibition.