Intense World Theory Interview for Homepage - Help!

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@KenG we are all hyper argumentative?

I remember once when one of my guy friends told me he liked me romantically and I was forced to tell him I didn't feel the same way. I was sobbing uncontrollably I was in so much pain and he ended up comforting me, which was pretty ridiculous.

My own theory of Alexithymia that it could be a coping mechanism. The brain may have at one point in early development been so overloaded by these emotions that it just shut them out. I don't think I have Alexithymia - I did have confusion about what my emotions were but once I learned to recognise them I can understand them better - but I can be so overloaded by peoples emotions that I can seem emotionless. Once my reaction turned to anger because I really didn't know how to deal with the bombardment of these emotions coming from other people.

But I have my own theory about hypo stimulation; being under-aroused by the environment which affects sensory processing and behaviour. I was very hypo as a child in energy, processing and sensory. Today I'm hyper in every way. This is why I believe there is not one cause of autism because we each are affected in different ways; some of us are overwhelmed by the environment while some of us are underwhelmed; some want to be social while others couldn't give it a second thought; some are lacking in empathy (in a theory of mind sense) and some of us have too much of it.

There are so many theories about he cause of autism I don't think one will ever be found. What I do is look at the symptoms and try to connect them to other brain disorders and even brain injury. I've known some people with brain injuries and drug addled brains that show some similarities to my symptoms. I think we're coddling ourselves when we say autism is only a genetic thing. I do agree that it can be but there are other causes too. I had specific trauma in the womb and out of all the children my dad had I had to be the one that had enough symptoms that interfered enough in my life to be diagnosed.
We must be honest about the reason why we're saying it's only genetic, something we're born with. It makes us feel better about it, right?

But back to my question: What about people who are the opposite of IWS? I was basically the opposite to IWS until my adolescence. I had my first sensory overload when I was 12 and not again until I was 22. And now it happens almost everyday in public. I even get it from certain types of music.

I still don't think you can stamp one cause to autism. The brain is a very delicate thing and every action and experience changes it. My own theory is under active and over active frontal lobes. When I'm overstimulated I have a seizure which eventually brings my brain activity down and I get problems with motor, speech and cognitive functioning. Many of my seizure symptoms can be misinterpreted as autistic behaviour too. The brain tries to bring the neuro chemicals back to equilibrium. I've witnessed this when I had stimulants then a coffee hours later and almost fell asleep. It tried to bring me back to a balance but because it's not properly regulated it brought me down a bit too much.

I actually don't think I've gotten my point across. What I mean to say is just because autistic people share similar symptoms and maybe brain development the brain in each is still very different so it's impossible to find a single cause.

Sorry for the rant Scotty. I hope you understood my question in that. You're a smart enough boy to write the question in your own words.

Also, how many people here have Pathological Demand Avoidance syndrome and think they've had it for most of their life? Look it up. I think it's another indication of the differences in brain development among autistics.

the link between hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity is this:pleasurable sensory stimuli causes endorphins in the brain to activate which causes an anynestitzed state where one cant feel pain.hyposensitivity is linked to sensory intensity.a severly autistic person could find a shiny object so hyponotic that there endorophins cause a drug like state,such a person could bite themselves or bang there head without feeling pain

I will be be sure to arrange the article so that it is easily digestible to Wrong Planet readers.

I've also requested interviews with Simon Baron Cohen (Alex really wanted me to interview him), Tony Attwood, and Uta Frith. .

There will be plenty of time for you guys to offer suggestions for the Attwood and Cohen questions. I should hear back from them soon.

If not too late of a sugestion, I would be interesting in seeing if there is anything about their theory that would help explain verbal deficits seen in autism disorder.

1) What is the future of research in supporting this theory?

2) What are their thoughts on anatomical differences such as the latest study on lung shape differences, as well as gastrointestinal tract issues?

3) Their theory supports why ABA therapy is one of the only scientifically proven methods of improving language, social, and independence skills. Can the application of this theory help make ABA even more efficient and productive?

4) Increased volume of caudate nuclei in basal ganglia has been linked to autism, possibly explaining ritualistic and repetitive behaviors. How does this tie into IWT?

5) How do they intend to handle backlash that occurs when parents feel blamed by a theory that supports environment as a larger contributing factor to the expression of autism than previous theories?

6) How do they plan to replicate environmental stress as a catalyst to the expression of autistic traits? Perhaps a study with the rats exposed to VTP exposed to varying degrees of stressful environments?

7) How can this theory explain high rates of epilepsy in autistic individuals?

8 ) Autism has also been linked to an autoimmunity issue . Could an autoimmune issue cause the neural differences supported by your theory? Link - http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Ad ... ne.0024691



I'm sure I'll come up with more as I sit here

Disclaimer: This is based on rapid skimming of a dense academic paper by somebody who admits he understood about 7% of what was written.

My initial impression (based on the first two pages) is that they're proposing environmental causes (specifically, prenatal exposure to VPA) as a major factor in the development of autism, and they appear to include both Aspergers and ADD under the umbrella of their theory. The problem is, both ADD and Aspergers existed long before the drugs they're citing existed, let alone were commonplace in the environment. My dad's side of the family is positively littered with ADD, Aspergers, and varying combinations of the two -- all the way back to the family matriarchs (including my grandmother & at least two of her sisters I can think of offhand). I have no firsthand evidence, but I'd be genuinely shocked if it began with them in the early 1900s, and doesn't actually run all the way back to my ancient neanderthal ancestors in west-central Europe.

That said, they *might* have a point, if their theory is suggesting that prenatal exposure to VPA might be a factor that can cause someone who'd have otherwise ended up as an Aspie with ADD to end up getting born with a much more severe manifestation of Autism instead.