On the Schizophrenia / Autism Spectrum Connection and Social Cognition

In this video, I share some known facts and my thoughts about what they mean to me. It is about the links many studies have identified between Autism and Schizophrenia, which by themselves each describe a "spectrum" or range of related yet distinct characteristics.

Of course, with such syndromes as Schizophrenia or Autism, the causes are hard to identify with precision in general as well as with regard to specific cases. Sometimes genetics is implicated. Sometimes stressful situations are implicated, in either the biochemical or social environments.

Sometimes, the individual with autism or schizophrenia shirks the idea that they are sick, and instead profess to be abnormal in good ways rather than disturbed ways. They uphold their mental states and functions as part of who they are, while acknowledging the potential risks for intensity and disorder given the current, ongoing, and anticipated levels of stress in their world.

I did research the factual claims made in this video, and in addition I provide the disclaimer that the other opinions and ideas are my own and do not constitute medical advice, but just personal reflections and interpretations. My educational qualifications are philosophical and literary and not medical, and my views should be thought about critically, not taken as claims of science.

Feel free to ask me questions in the comments.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• schizophrenia
• autism
• spectrum
• disorder
• link
• connection
• relationship
• social
• cognition
• mental
• illness
• abnormal
• behaviour
• interpretation
• reflection

[browndyke]

Thats interesting , i'v come to a similar conclusion myself. I did salvia with someone on the autistic spectrum, it affected me alot more than normal and him alot less which led me to believe that they have an unusual chemical make up in the brain aswell, children of schizophrenic are said to usualy be more creative and creativity has been linked to dopemine the brain chemical so maybe an early warning sign of the possability of schizophrenia is hightened creativity. Just a thought.

[nednednerb]

Look up schizotypal personality traits. Creativity is normal and valuable in the context of human life.

So,

I don't think it's quite an early warning sign; I think it's a normal part of some people's lives. I think stress and the inability to cope productively indicates more of my early warning signs in my own experience than my creativity.

[browndyke]

@nednednerb yeah definetly stress especially if the person seems like they can't handle stress, I was just thinking that because of a psychological study done on people with creative minds vs schizophrenics and they found that both had a lowered ability to block out backgound noise but in healthy people it also showed that these people had higher IQ's than the less creative so there just seemed to be an overlap there, thats why I said "possability"

[nednednerb]

@browndyke Yes, I see what you're getting at, but I think it's predominately overlap. Something about schizophrenia is related to the things about human minds related to creativity, it seems, but calling it a warning sign just feels out of place to me for some reason. It's like saying that friendliness is a warning sign of depression because many people with depression have habits of being very nice to others (but not themselves). (((I've seen this last idea in self-help type literature/dunno)))

[browndyke]

@nednednerb Yeah you're right probably not a warning sign (too definite) I shouldn't have used that wording, just when it's funtionality rather than cognition (like conscious thought) it makes me think it's more solid

[nednednerb]

@browndyke No worries, you're making good points :) I always like to nuance ideas. That's just my nature

[minecreative123]

i havea autism and all what happens is that i have arguments with my brain and constently reasurring my brain

[nednednerb]

@DarkQuietWyattON That was one of my main points, actually. I was referring to research I read about the connection, and my main response about social cognition was that those genes and gene groups are the same genes in all humans responsible for various aspects of our social cognition and other psychological functioning. There's only a sparse few genes compared to the total set we have which is unique among humans, and still a LOT of room in the small set for all peculiarly unique human life.

[nednednerb]

@DarkQuietWyattON What I said, in addition to the conditions sharing genes, is that those very genes are also related to social cognitive traits IN GENERAL. Everyone is different, but we share the same 4 genetic letters in a bunch of similar genetic sentences (genes), paragraphs (chromosomes), and even some books (appearances) can sound like the same read. However, those letters, turned around a little here or there, amount to alternate forms of history, reality, and existence. I agree with you!

[nednednerb]

@DarkQuietWyattON I definitely agree

[DarkQuietWyattON]

If I eat certain mushrooms I get sick, vomit, have stomach craps etc. and some of those same traits are shared with people who have Crohns, ulcers or even stomach cancer but I have none of those. Just because I share puking with them, does not mean my allergy is anywhere near their much more serious conditions (in the case of autism and schizophrenia, both are serious though I an understand that). I just think the "connection" between the two disorders is extremely tenuous.