istockphoto.com/diane39
There’s a new theory for the autism epidemic that hearkens back to the “refrigerator mother” theory that autism is caused by cold, withholding mothers. The Albany Times Union reports that Dr. Gabor Mate believes that parental stress, especially the mother’s, causes developmental disabilities. The author of four books that explore the connection of mind, body and stress, Mate asserts that, " The electrical circuitry of a child’s brain is programmed by the mother’s emotional
state."
Research does, in fact suggest that childhood trauma influences a child’s developmental success, affecting both their mental and physical outcomes well into adulthood. Careful not to fault individual parenting, Mate points to the modern society’s family structure of overworked parents and overbooked kids as an indication that the “it takes a village to raise a child” model is extinct, leaving troubled kids who are then medicated when they have problems. The doctor goes on to offer tips about effective parenting, like “Don’t parent when you are feeling hostile. Wait for your heart to open up” and “Catch your children ‘being good’ and give them positive attention.” It’s a bit disingenuous to not blame poor parenting, then proceed to give parenting tips that are less than a revelation.
Dr. Mate concedes that he has no proof for his theory of rising autism (ADD and obesity as well), “but nothing else makes sense”.
With all due respect, many other things make sense as factors in the rise of autism — environment toxins triggering genetic propensities for instance. I guess in this case, a mother’s depression would count as an environmental toxin, but it’s hard to swallow the notion that alone causes autism. I know plenty of parents, myself included, who have sacrificed a great deal to be present for our children and the kids were still on the spectrum. Were we too stressed out, too depressed in the midst of our efforts? Geez, we’re all just doing the best we can.
Dr. Mate could make his useful points without going overboard. Parents are going to end up depressed because they’re depressed, thinking they are putting their child at risk for autism. Dr. Mate could well end up inducing the stress he claims to want to alleviate.
About the Author:
http://SusanMoffitt.com
I like your final statement the best. I think that this researcher would do well to put his energy elsewhere; there are so many other topics that need looking into: how people with autism learn and keep on learning through adulthood. Or how autism parents often do indeed come to terms with autism and live productive and happy lives. Or how such studies affect people with autism, or their parents.
I like the topics you suggested!
In every generation there seems to be yet another so-called expert that blames mothers for autism. The new theory is generally a variant of the same old recycled theory that blames poor ole mom. The most famous person to champion the term “Refrigerator Mother” was Bruno Bettleheim. The theory was that autism was caused by an emotional frigidity of the mother. As a mother who has been in the autism wars for more than 20 years, I say it’s time to clarify a few things to these luddites who always have the trappings of legitimacy, with MDs and Ph.D.s behind their names, exploiting their credentials to propagate their nonsense.
From Bettelheim in the 1950s to the latest incarnation of MDs who flog this junk using theories that have no data, there are a few things that must be emphasized. First, when a child from birth ignores everyone’s presence, cries incessantly and is up all night for years on end, to the point where the mother is barely functioning, the child’s autism is the CAUSE of the mother’s condition, not the other way around! In other words, the mother’s stress or depression does not cause autism… autism causes maternal stress and depression. Put simply, these professionals do not understand that the causal arrow goes the other way! You’d think that after a decade of post-secondary education, these so-called experts would have figured that out, but apparently not.
Also, before doctors and researchers venture into the murky waters of autism, I would suggest they read a few peer-reviewed journal articles that have been written in the last decade, and also walk a block, not a mile, in the shoes of a mother of an untreated child with autism.
Second, a theory is useless without any data supporting it. Put simply, show us the data, or put a sock in it! Since these big thinkers seem happy to posit theories that they have no plans to test and are, therefore, perennially without data to support them, let me have a go, and posit one of my own. Doctors and researchers with little talent and less integrity, tend to gravitate to fields where there is no known cause and no known cure – like autism. That way, B.S. can be purveyed with impunity, since few folks actually expect rigorous scientific standards of conduct (i.e., proper theory construction, hypothesis development, experimental design, testing, data collection, statistical analyses, presentation of results, and interpretation). In other words, where autism is concerned, it’s still the wild west of science. However, the good news is that as we learn more about the true neurobiology of autism, these ignorant pretenders will be relegated to the Flat Earth Society where they belong.
Well spoken! Thanks.
I like this particular topic and wish to say academics plays a huge role in ones life.However being directly involved in a problem,creating awareness,solution and upgrading the solutions is paramount. As a therapist,I have heard different things about autism and causes yet to behold . But the funny thing about it, is that, some of the causes are actually attribute that could be seen and believed.Alcohol and drug parent,environmental pollutions, vaccines,refrigerator parent and pre natal accident.
Looking at it carefully, everything has a cause and effect. The aforementioned must have a resulting effect. I think parent have a great role in a child’s life. Whether the child is normal or is the spectrum.
My only pain is the challenges parent faces in the course of managing this special ones.It is not easy to take care of children. So researcher should take care in labeling parents. Let that parent who feels s/he is the cause of their child issue, bare,forgive their selves and think of how their child will recover. Recovering is the most important thing.The school legend will always write to address issues.Remember they have cured a lot.
Well, with autism there’s qualified recovery, more functionality and well-being within the parameters of having a lifelong condition.
The parent who feels they caused their child’s autism should be reassured that there are a multitude of factors at work and they should not blame themselves for their child’s autism.
Unfortunately, “the school legend” often exacerbates a child’s autism, rather than helping to rewrite it.
I have 2 children diagnosed with high functioning autism and both my mother, myself and her brother all “have it” although have never been evaluated and diagnosed. My great grandfather on my mother’s side was a 33rd degree Freemason, and I know this sounds “out there” but I am being sincere in saying I have concerns at this point there may be a spiritual connection with autism. I have researched this and found that while Freemasonry is cloaked in innocence, it is actually a secret society that slowly and gradually lures it’s members into witchcraft. I also learned that at the high levels of witchcraft it is common to place curses on one’s own children and bloodline, as it gives the practitioner a great deal of power. I am currently looking for some help for my family to see if this may be the case and to resolve it if possible.
I don’t accept your premise that autism is a curse, a burden/blessing, yes, but not a curse. Genetics and environmental toxins hold the answers, in my estimation.
Something scary about your worldview is that it can lead to exorcism rituals in which autistic children are harmed and even die.
Spiritual health is tied to physical health, but I would rethink the notion of a family curse.
You seem prompt to refute every argument that could link the mother endocrinology to her offspring’s development. However every single study conducted with mothers having elevated circulating stress hormones leads to the same conclusion: the mother’s stress hormones (glucocorticoids and CRF, as well as catecholamines) lead to fetal developmental impairments, both physical and cognitive which have lifelong consequences.
While perhaps not every case of autism can be explained by the mother’s hormones, there are strong arguments in favor of this connection. Intrauterine life determines sometimes more than genetics per se, and although the fetus do have mechanisms to compensate their mother’s hormonal inbalance, it’s not always sufficient.
Last but not least, I have autistic symptoms, my mother have excessive circulating glucocorticoids and is depressive. The reason why this is not a coincidence is because I have excessive opioids in my bloodstream since I was born, which are peptides that are a consequence of stress hormones (in this case, intrauterine ones, via maternal bloodflow). As a neuroscientist and a person, I find insulting this way parents want to feel no responsibility for their children development and thus blame factors that would make them feel less guilty. This is exactly the kind of lobbying which made molested children end up in psychiatric hospital in a recent past because nobody would admit the truth.
You don’t seem to want to understand autism at all but convince others you know better without having a clue.
Bye.
For the one above who pretends he reads peer reviewed journals:
Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Apr 7;279(1732):1447-56. Epub 2011 Nov 9.
Embryonic exposure to corticosterone modifies the juvenile stress response, oxidative stress and telomere length.
Haussmann MF, Longenecker AS, Marchetto NM, Juliano SA, Bowden RM.
(Free at Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22072607)
Weinstock M.
The potential influence of maternal stress hormones on development and mental health of the offspring. (invited review)
Brain Behav. Immunity 19: 296-308, 2005.
Yaka R, Salomon S, Matzner H, Weinstock M.
Effect of varied gestational stress on acquisition of spatial memory, hippocampal LTP and synaptic proteins in juvenile male rats.
Behav Brain Res 2007.
Bogoch Y, Biala YN, Linial M, Weinstock M.
Anxiety induced by prenatal stress is associated with suppression of hippocampal genes involved in synaptic function.
J Neurochem 2007.
Dr. Mate wasn’t addressing stressors prior to birth, only a mother’s mood once she was raising her child. My mother was very disturbed and certainly she affected me, but she didn’t cause autism in me or my siblings. I find it ludicrous to believe that that is the case for anyone.
Hi I am not quite sure how I came to read this article but it must be meant to be.
I am a mother of 2 children they both are PDD-NOS and ADHD and a lot of other diagnose with.
My journey to rescue my kids came down with Homeopathy Seize Therapy and I believe that both my boys are
on their course of being rescued in time.
I read this article and for some reason I think there is a link between a depressed mom and an autistic child.
Because of my own emotional states thru the year of pregnancies and everything is actually has energy in this universe. When we fight with something, even to make our autistic kids get better so they can have their brighter future, the bottom line is that if we are angry or sad and feel resentful and comes up the questions of “why? me?”
at times, chances are more about the fact we are depressed.
I think this M.D is not pointing finger and blaming mothers for cause of autism. It was just his research and there may be a lot of points that we could learn from by really think each and every factor of our emotions and how and why we felt towards certain things. I do feel that the cause of my kids being how they are really linking to how
I am and I was. That is why I just wanted to write this to post my comment. Thank you for reading.
I appreciate and respect what you are saying, but I still don’t think a depressed mother causes autism. Mothers have it hard enough w/out assuming the blame for a neurological condition. A layer of guilt over layers of depression does not serve anyone. That being said, yes, of course a mother’s mood profoundly affects her child and has bearing on their journey of healing, being either a drag line or an boost of energy in the child reaching their personal potential.
Hello all, i read what you wrote about the study and the conclusion of the MD. I understand you are angry. I am a mother 0f a child that has been dyagnosed with a SID. he is our only boy and the thirth one, the tow others, girls, perfectly healthy.
After reading the conclusion of the study, i was very angry aswell- how daring is to place the blame on the mothers.
However after reading all of you i have a second thought.
It is better to know what are, even the POTENTIAL causes of autism than ingnoring them and pretend that it is an attack.
I will not salute the result of the study, because it hurt, but it helped me think and understand how our behaviour might affect our children for live and probably, not just when they are brand new baby, but when they are growing up too.
My resolution is to use the result of this study and see what i am doing wrong today and try to fix it with my tree chidren, because for sure they need our atention at all age, and lacking of it can create a trauma at any moment of there live.
PS. I was alone during the last 2 months when pregnat of our son, with two school age very youngs children. my husband being away for business, i remembered i never felt so depressed and alone during that period of time. We just moved in a new unknowned country, it was during winter time, we had no family, and no friends. YES our son was born during a very special period of my/our lives, when I needed more support than what i had. Maybe i was a bit less wram to him than i was with his sisters,i will absolutly not say that, but for sure iwas not at 100% of my potentials. What i know is, i am alway putting my children 1st,sometime is just a little bit more difficult.
Thank you for reading, and most of all thx for sharing.
Jud
We’re walking a line here. I just don’t want depressed mothers sunk lower with an additional weight of guilt. And while depression certainly affect a son or daughter, there is no evidence that it gives them autism. It can cause them to regress and conversely, positive emotional support can help them to flourish, but that is a far cry from giving autism to a child. Best evidence suggests genetics with environmental triggers. Can the depression of a mother serve as a trigger? I am not qualified to say, but the cause of autism is more complex this doctor suggests.
Thanks for writing.