Symptoms Of Aspergers

Self-injury — also known as self-harm — is simply the act of inflicting deliberate injury onto oneself, in order to relieve emotional pain. The most common form of self injury is making shallow cuts onto one’s skin, usually on the arm or leg. It is a type of coping mechanism used by a person when their emotional pain is simply too great to handle.
Why do people self injure? Physical pain is more real and a more concrete sensation to experience for some people than emotional pain. By inflicting physical pain, the emotional pain is temporarily relieved.
Self-injury tends to provide a temporary relief, therefore someone who self-injures will often have to continue to do so in order to continue to enjoy relief from emotional pain. Many times when a person self-injures, they do so only when under extreme stress.
While self injury has become more commonplace in the past decade, it is not a common way of dealing with emotional pain. Self injury is more common amongst teenagers and young adults than older adults.
Some people consider taking drugs or alcohol as a form of self harm. Unfortunately, such a broader definition can mean that any behavior taken to an extreme — that is, that results in a person’s own harm — can be considered “self harm,” even if harm to oneself was not intended (as usually the case with drugs or alcohol, which are primarily used as a method for escape or personal pleasure).
Self-injury is often caused by the lack of more appropriate coping skills. Therefore treatment for self injury focuses on helping a person learn to cope with their emotional extremes using more adaptive coping mechanisms that don’t rely on actual physical harm to one’s body. This can often start with adapting other less extreme self-injury behavior to replace the usual self-injury behavior (such as cutting). Substituting gripping an ice cube in one’s hand, for instance, can be just as painful, but causes less physical harm.

Does vaccination increase the likelihood of autism?
One hypothesis is that vaccination in general, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) virus live vaccine, and vaccines that contain mercury cause autism. Actress Jenny McCarthy is one of the most outspoken proponents of the autism-vaccine hypothesis. She has appeared on numerous TV shows, radio shows and other media outlets where she has claimed that there is definitely a link between vaccines and autism.
Former presidential candidate John McCain stated, “It’s indisputable that autism is on the rise amongst children, the question is what’s causing it… There’s strong evidence that indicates that it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines.”
President Obama stated, “We’ve seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it’s connected to the vaccines — this person included.”
What Science Says About Vaccines and AutismSolt and Bornstein reviewed studies that investigated the autism-vaccine hypothesis. The researchers concluded that:

Studies that investigated this theory [hypothesis] did not find an association between vaccine administration and between digestive system symptoms and autism. According to a second hypothesis, an organomercury compound (Thimerosal), used as a preservative in vaccines that do not include live viruses, is a cause of autism. Like the former, this hypothesis has been well researched, and refuted. Some studies have in fact found an increase in autism diagnosis among children who were vaccinated after Thimerosal was removed from the vaccine preparation. Recent studies have refuted the theory that the consecutive administration of vaccines weakens the young immune system in children, and leads to an autoimmune process that causes autism.

Exposure to thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative found in vaccines and immunoglobulin preparations, has been hypothesized to be associated with increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A study conducted by Price and colleagues (2010) examined relationships between prenatal and infant ethylmercury exposure from thimerosal-containing vaccines or immunoglobulin preparations, and ASD and 2 ASD subcategories (autistic disorder and autism spectrum disorder with regression). The researchers concluded that prenatal and early-life exposure to ethylmercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines and immunoglobulin preparations was not related to increased risk of ASDs.
Lilienfeld and colleagues (2010, p.198) point out:

There’s no solid evidence for any link between autism and vaccinations — including either injections containing thimerosal or injections for MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella; Institute of Medicine, 2004; Offit, 2008)

Several large American, European, and Japanese studies revealed that even as the rates of vaccinations stayed the same or went down, the rates of diagnosed autism increased (Herbert, Sharp, & Gaudiano, 2002; Honda, Shimizu, & Rutter, 2005). Even after the government removed thimerosal from vaccines in 2001, the rates of autism in California continued to climb rapidly until 2007 (Schechter & Grether, 2008).

Vividness Effect
Scientific evidence does not support the autism-vaccine link. However, compelling personal testimonials often dissuade people from accepting the scientific evidence. The vividness of personal testimony often trumps evidence of higher reliability. This problem in belief formation occurs due to what cognitive psychologists call the vividness effect. Society is replete with examples of the vividness effect. To further illustrate this point consider the following scenario. You are deciding whether you should try a dietary supplement that is purported to decrease appetite. After reading the scientific research on the product you conclude that the supplement does not decrease appetite. The next day you mention the supplement to your friend, who suggests the supplement worked great for her. Should this anecdote persuade you to purchase the supplement, even though scientific data suggests otherwise? There is a good chance that the friend’s testimony would outweigh the scientific evidence. The vividness effect is evident with the acceptance of the autism-vaccine link. Most people don’t read scientific journals and the majority of media reports aren’t concerned with what science says, but with what makes good headlines.

The public’s misunderstandings of the autism-vaccine link may be very dangerous. In 2008, the New York Times reported increases in measles in the U.S., Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy; these are all areas where many parents have declined vaccinations for their children.

It doesn't take long to see that Temple Grandin, the main character in this eponymous HBO movie, is, well, different--she (in the person of Claire Danes, who plays her) tells us before the credits start that she's "not like other people." But "different" is not "less." Indeed, Grandin, who is now in her 60s, has accomplished a good deal more than a great many "normal" folks, let alone others afflicted with the autism that Grandin overcame on her way to earning a doctorate and becoming a bestselling author and a pioneer in the humane treatment of livestock. It wasn't easy. The doctor who diagnosed her at age 4 said she'd never talk and would have to be institutionalized. Only through the dogged efforts of her mother (Julia Ormond), who was told that "lack of bonding" with her child might have caused the autism, did Grandin learn to speak; to go to high school, college, and grad school; and to become a highly productive scientist, enduring the cruel taunts of her classmates and the resistance of many of the adults in her life (most of whom are shown as either narrow-minded prigs or macho, chauvinist jerks). Her lack of social skills and sometimes violent reactions to the overstimulation in her environment made it tough to fit in, to say the least. Danes, who is in nearly every scene of director Mick Jackson's film, is remarkable, embodying Grandin's various idiosyncrasies (such as talking, too loud, too fast, and too much) without resorting to caricature. Jackson does a marvelous job of depicting not only her actual accomplishments (among other things, she took the "squeeze machine" created to "gentle" upset cattle and adapted it for herself, using it to replace the hugs she never got as a child; later on, she revolutionized the systems used to prepare cows for slaughter, as well as the design of the slaughterhouses themselves), but also her more abstract talents, especially the extraordinary visual acuity that enables her to remember virtually everything she's ever seen. This is mostly Danes's film, but the whole cast is top-notch, especially Ormond, Catherine O'Hara as Temple's aunt, and David Strathairn as one of the few teachers who saw Grandin's potential. Captivating, compelling, and thoroughly entertaining, Temple Grandin is highly recommended. --Sam Graham
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Before You Take a Stand ... You Got to Take a Chance. Holden Harris is an eighteen-year-old locked in a prison of autism. Despite his quiet ways and quirky behaviors, Holden is very happy and socially normal---on the inside, in a private world all his own. In reality, he is bullied at school by kids who only see that he is very different. Ella Reynolds is part of the 'in' crowd. A cheerleader and star of the high school drama production, her life seems perfect. When she catches Holden listening to her rehearse for the school play, she is drawn to him ... the way he is drawn to the music. Then, Ella makes a dramatic discovery---she and Holden were best friends as children. Frustrated by the way Holden is bullied, and horrified at the indifference of her peers, Ella decides to take a stand against the most privileged and popular kids at school. Including her boyfriend, Jake. Ella believes miracles can happen in the unlikeliest places, and that just maybe an entire community might celebrate from the sidelines. But will Holden's praying mother and the efforts of Ella and a cast of theater kids be enough to unlock the prison that contains Holden? This time, friendship, faith, and the power of a song must be strong enough to open the doors to the miracle Holden needs.
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Increases Greatest Among Teens, Hispanics

Nov. 10, 2010 -- Nearly one in 10 children in the U.S. has a diagnosis of ADHD, with rates rising by 22% in just four years, government health officials said Wednesday.

The CDC estimates that between 2003 and 2007, a million children and teens were diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which is characterized by problems with attention, hyperactivity, and/or impulse control.

In 2007, 5.4 million children between the ages of 4 and 17 were estimated to have ever been diagnosed with ADHD, up from 4.4 million four years earlier.

Two out of three children in this age group with a current ADHD diagnosis -- 2.7 million children in all -- were taking medication for the disorder.

The figures come from nationally representative surveys of parents conducted by CDC researchers in 2003 and again in 2007, but it is not clear if the dramatic increase is solely due to greater awareness and more aggressive diagnosis of the disorder.

CDC epidemiologist Susanna Visser, MS, who led the study, says regardless of the reasons, the increase has major public health implications.

“This tells us that one in 10 children and their families are dealing with ADHD in America,” she says. “That is a very significant number.”

The highest increases were seen in older teenagers and Hispanic children, possibly reflecting a shift in attitudes about diagnosis.

In the 1990s, ADHD was disproportionately diagnosed in white children from more affluent families. Today, more children living in poverty are diagnosed and ADHD rates are comparable among African-American and white children, Visser says.

Hispanic children have historically had the lowest ADHD diagnosis rates, but this appears to be changing. While ADHD diagnosis among Hispanics remained lower than non-Hispanics, the rate increased by 53% from 2003 to 2007. The increase may reflect better access to health care or changing attitudes about ADHD within the Hispanic community.

The survey also showed a 42% increase in the diagnosis of ADHD among 15- to 17-year-olds.
The state with the lowest percentage of children diagnosed with ADHD in 2007 was Nevada, with a total of 5.6% of children having ever been diagnosed. Illinois and California had the next lowest rate, with 6.2% of children diagnosed in each state.

North Carolina had the highest percentage of children with ADHD. A total of 15.6% children in the state had a diagnosis of ADHD in 2007, followed by Alabama with a rate of 14.3%, Louisiana with a rate of 14.2%, and Delaware with a rate of 14.1%.

The increases probably reflect greater efforts to screen for ADHD and treat those who have the disorder, Visser says.

Twelve states reported increases in ADHD prevalence between 2003 and 2007, and all regions of the country, with the exception of Western states, saw increases.