Autistic no empathy

Autism, Asperger's, and Empathy: Know the Facts

Autism, Asperger's, and Empathy: Know the Facts | Psych Central

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Medically reviewed by Alex Klein, PsyD — By Kimberly Drake — Updated on June 29, 2021

One of the biggest misconceptions about autistic people is that they lack empathy. Is there any truth to this belief?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental condition characterized by social, communication, and behavioral differences.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 8-year-old children, an estimated 1 in 54 was identified as having ASD in 2016.

Autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and Asperger’s syndrome were once separately diagnosed disorders. They now fall under the diagnosis of ASD in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Still, some autistic people prefer to identify as either autistic or having Asperger’s.

One of the hallmarks of ASD is difficulties in social communication. This may manifest as challenges relating with others, showing little interest in other people, and difficulties with receptive and expressive language.

But do these challenges mean an autistic person can’t be empathetic?

Research into autism and empathy has evolved over the years. Initially, it was thought that the absence of empathy was a characteristic found in all autistic people. However, we now know this trait exists on a spectrum in people with ASD, just as it does in neurotypical individuals.

Autistic people think differently, which can be one of their many strengths. Yet, because of this, some of their social interactions and behaviors are often misunderstood.

This can cause some people to perceive their methods of interacting and behaviors as a lack of empathy.

For example, an autistic person may seem unaware when others are experiencing emotional distress or respond inappropriately in a social situation.

To a person who isn’t autistic, these behaviors may come across as cold or harsh, leading them to believe autistic people are not empathetic.

Research from 2018 has shown that autistic people may have difficulties with cognitive empathy (recognizing another person’s emotional state) but not affective empathy (the ability to feel another’s emotional state and a drive to respond to it).

For example, they may see someone struggling to carry a load of groceries yet not realize they may need help (cognitive empathy). However, they might notice the person has become upset about it and ask why (affective empathy).

Empathy also requires the social communication skill of “reading between the lines” and deciphering how another person may feel in a situation. For autistic individuals, this may be challenging due to a tendency to think literally.

For instance, if you were to ask an autistic person, “Do you like my new haircut?” and they don’t care for it, they may say no without understanding how that response may make you feel.

So, perhaps it’s the combination of social difficulties and deficits in cognitive empathy that may create the impression autistic people aren’t empathetic. When in reality, they are — it just presents in ways that may not meet society’s expectations.

According to Eric Mikoleit, director of Lakeland STAR School/Academy — a charter school in Minocqua, Wisconsin, that specializes in educating autistic students and diverse learners, “social communication barriers, narrow interests, and attention to detail” are some of the reasons autistic people may have difficulties expressing empathy.

But, he says, they do have empathy — however, the “levels of empathy vary significantly among individuals.”

Autistic people often need direct instruction on identifying the emotional states of others and learning to label their own feelings.

Mikoleit says these skills can be enhanced in autistic students by using modeling, teaching them how to recognize and label the emotions of others, and the actions they must take in response to those emotions.

He says there are curriculum plans specifically designed to help with teaching these skills.

According to a meta-analysis, around 50% of autistic people also have alexithymia — a condition characterized by difficulties with understanding and articulating one’s emotions, including empathy. So, the coexistence of this condition may partly explain the misconception that all autistic people lack empathy.

However, a 2020 research report indicates that it’s the presence of alexithymia and not autism that impacts attachments to others, including their parents. Though attachment and empathy aren’t the same, they are related.

Further studies suggest the deficits in emotional facial expression often thought of as ASD-specific may actually be due to alexithymia and not autism.

Still, while these studies may offer some insight, it’s unknown just how much alexithymia contributes to the differences in empathy among autistic individuals.

Another reason people may think autistic individuals lack empathy is because of a mismatch in communication between autistic and neurotypical people.

Research suggests that when two autistic individuals interact, they have the same level of rapport as two neurotypical people. However, when an autistic person interacts with a non-autistic individual, there is a tendency for miscommunication.

Also, other research suggests that recognizing facial emotional expressions can sometimes be a challenge for someone with ASD. And because people with ASD might not display many facial expressions themselves, it can be difficult for neurotypical people to read their emotional state.

This may cause the neurotypical person to think the autistic person lacks empathy. When in reality, the neurotypical person also lacks an empathetic understanding of the autistic person’s perspective.

This double empathy problem theory highlights the need for greater understanding and acceptance of autism. It also indicates a need for more understanding of how an autistic person thinks and feels.

Levels of empathy vary significantly among all people, including those with ASD. For autistic individuals who also have alexithymia, understanding empathy may be more of a challenge.

But for most, the differences in thinking patterns, social communication, and behaviors associated with ASD may be why some folks mistakenly believe an autistic person lacks empathy.

Helping someone with ASD learn to recognize the emotional state of others through direct instruction is one way to enhance their ability to empathize with others effectively.

However, neurotypical people can also be a part of this solution by learning how autistic individuals think, feel, and communicate.

Approaching empathy in this way could perhaps bridge the communication gap and foster the acceptance and understanding autistic people deserve.

For more information, the following organizations offer resources and support for the autism community:

Autism Society of America
Autism Self Advocacy Network
Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network
Autism Research Institute

Last medically reviewed on June 29, 2021

9 sourcescollapsed

Autism spectrum disorder. (2020).
cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/features/new-asd-prevalence-numbers-show-gaps-are-closing.html
Brewer R, et al. (2016). Can neurotypical individuals read autistic facial expressions? Atypical production of emotional facial expressions in autism spectrum disorders.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4975602/
Cook R, et al. (2013). Alexithymia, not autism, predicts poor recognition of emotional facial expressions.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797612463582
DeThorne LS. (2020). Revealing the double empathy problem.
leader.pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/leader.FTR2.25042020.58
Fletcher-Watson S, et al. (2019). Autism and empathy: What are the real links?
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1362361319883506
Giannotti M, et al. (2020). Alexithymia, not autism spectrum disorder, predicts perceived attachment to parents in school-age children.
frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00332/full
Kinnaird E, et al. (2018). Investigating alexithymia in autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6331035/
Mikoleit E. (2021). Personal Interview.
Warrier V, et al. (2018). Genome-wide analyses of self-reported empathy: correlations with autism, schizophrenia, and anorexia nervosa.
nature.com/articles/s41398-017-0082-6

FEEDBACK:

Medically reviewed by Alex Klein, PsyD — By Kimberly Drake — Updated on June 29, 2021

All About Autism
What Are the Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder?
Asperger’s vs. Autism: What Exactly Is the Difference?
How Is Autism Diagnosed?
Autism Fact Sheet: What Should I Know About Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Autism, Asperger's, and Empathy: Know the Facts

Autism, Asperger's, and Empathy: Know the Facts | Psych Central

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Medically reviewed by Alex Klein, PsyD — By Kimberly Drake — Updated on June 29, 2021

One of the biggest misconceptions about autistic people is that they lack empathy. Is there any truth to this belief?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental condition characterized by social, communication, and behavioral differences.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 8-year-old children, an estimated 1 in 54 was identified as having ASD in 2016.

But do these challenges mean an autistic person can’t be empathetic?

Autistic people think differently, which can be one of their many strengths. Yet, because of this, some of their social interactions and behaviors are often misunderstood.

This can cause some people to perceive their methods of interacting and behaviors as a lack of empathy.

For example, an autistic person may seem unaware when others are experiencing emotional distress or respond inappropriately in a social situation.

To a person who isn’t autistic, these behaviors may come across as cold or harsh, leading them to believe autistic people are not empathetic.

For instance, if you were to ask an autistic person, “Do you like my new haircut?” and they don’t care for it, they may say no without understanding how that response may make you feel.

But, he says, they do have empathy — however, the “levels of empathy vary significantly among individuals.”

Autistic people often need direct instruction on identifying the emotional states of others and learning to label their own feelings.

He says there are curriculum plans specifically designed to help with teaching these skills.

Further studies suggest the deficits in emotional facial expression often thought of as ASD-specific may actually be due to alexithymia and not autism.

Still, while these studies may offer some insight, it’s unknown just how much alexithymia contributes to the differences in empathy among autistic individuals.

Another reason people may think autistic individuals lack empathy is because of a mismatch in communication between autistic and neurotypical people.

This double empathy problem theory highlights the need for greater understanding and acceptance of autism. It also indicates a need for more understanding of how an autistic person thinks and feels.

Levels of empathy vary significantly among all people, including those with ASD. For autistic individuals who also have alexithymia, understanding empathy may be more of a challenge.

But for most, the differences in thinking patterns, social communication, and behaviors associated with ASD may be why some folks mistakenly believe an autistic person lacks empathy.

Helping someone with ASD learn to recognize the emotional state of others through direct instruction is one way to enhance their ability to empathize with others effectively.

However, neurotypical people can also be a part of this solution by learning how autistic individuals think, feel, and communicate.

Approaching empathy in this way could perhaps bridge the communication gap and foster the acceptance and understanding autistic people deserve.

For more information, the following organizations offer resources and support for the autism community:

Autism Society of America
Autism Self Advocacy Network
Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network
Autism Research Institute

Last medically reviewed on June 29, 2021

9 sourcescollapsed

Autism spectrum disorder. (2020).
cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/features/new-asd-prevalence-numbers-show-gaps-are-closing.html
Brewer R, et al. (2016). Can neurotypical individuals read autistic facial expressions? Atypical production of emotional facial expressions in autism spectrum disorders.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4975602/
Cook R, et al. (2013). Alexithymia, not autism, predicts poor recognition of emotional facial expressions.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797612463582
DeThorne LS. (2020). Revealing the double empathy problem.
leader.pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/leader.FTR2.25042020.58
Fletcher-Watson S, et al. (2019). Autism and empathy: What are the real links?
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1362361319883506
Giannotti M, et al. (2020). Alexithymia, not autism spectrum disorder, predicts perceived attachment to parents in school-age children.
frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00332/full
Kinnaird E, et al. (2018). Investigating alexithymia in autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6331035/
Mikoleit E. (2021). Personal Interview.
Warrier V, et al. (2018). Genome-wide analyses of self-reported empathy: correlations with autism, schizophrenia, and anorexia nervosa.
nature.com/articles/s41398-017-0082-6

FEEDBACK:

Medically reviewed by Alex Klein, PsyD — By Kimberly Drake — Updated on June 29, 2021

All About Autism
What Are the Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder?
Asperger’s vs. Autism: What Exactly Is the Difference?
How Is Autism Diagnosed?
Autism Fact Sheet: What Should I Know About Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Four autism myths long overdue to be busted

Steve Silberman
for BBC Future

22 October 2015

Image credit: Getty

The four misconceptions about autism described below need to be dispelled, says BBC Future , who wrote the book "Neurotribes. A legacy of autism and a smarter approach to people whose minds are different" .

The history of autism is partly a history of myths: postulated under the guise of scientific facts by medical experts, shaping public attitudes towards this extremely complex disease, and ultimately debunked by subsequent research.

We have been walking in this vicious circle of myth-making for decades, often with devastating consequences for the lives of autistic people and their families.

(Other BBC Future articles in Russian)

One of the first such myths was propagated by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner, the man who credits himself with the first description of childhood autism.

When I was writing a book "NeuroTribes" then discovered that Kanner was a rather ambiguous personality.

To begin with, his claim that he, in fact, discovered autism, is groundless - his predecessors deserve this glory.

In addition, Kanner was wrong on several other important points. In an article published in Time magazine at 1948, he accused the parents of his patients that the lack of proper love and care on their part led to the development of autism in their children.

This image of the "refrigerator mom" became firmly established in the public consciousness - as a result, two generations of autistic children were placed in clinics where they were subjected to cruel punishments, imprisonment and ruthless experimental "treatment".

Today we know that Kanner's claims about "cold" mothers have no evidence.

However, other equally pernicious autism-related myths persist in society—they misallocate meager research funds, play a role in formulating misguided social policies, deplete the resources of affected families, and distort the public image about autists.

Here are four of the most harmful myths about autism that absolutely need to be dispelled.

Myth 1: Autism used to be less common than it is now

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Internet forums for new mothers are full of variations on the well-known horror story, according to which in 1970 the incidence of autism among American schoolchildren was one in 10 thousand people, and now it is one case in 68 people .

Some parents and activists mistakenly blame this on vaccination, citing a 1998 study by gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, who suggested a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and a bowel disorder dubbed autistic enterocolitis.

There is no scientific data in favor of the Wakefield hypothesis - the co-authors of the article in which it was put forward subsequently abandoned this point of view, and the Lancet magazine, which printed the material, later apologized to readers.

In fact, the main reason for the dramatic increase in the incidence of autism in recent decades is that more children, adolescents and adults are being diagnosed.

Image copyright, Getty

Image caption,

There is no scientific evidence to suggest that autism has increased in recent years. The disease was described very narrowly, so it was mistakenly thought of as a fairly rare occurrence - not least because of Kanner.

Kanner sought to avoid blurring the signs of the syndrome, of which he considered himself the discoverer, and therefore opposed making such a diagnosis to children if the symptoms were even slightly different from those described by him in 1943.

Once he even admitted that he made only one out of 10 children referred to him for a consultation is diagnosed with autism.

In the United States, this practice meant that until the late 1980s, parents often had to see their child for nine or ten specialists before they were diagnosed with autism.

Not all members of the working class and racial minorities could afford such expenses. And girls with autism were ignored by psychiatrists until the end of the last century.

It is noteworthy that in the end, the mother of a seriously autistic girl, the British psychiatrist Lorna Wing, now deceased, was able to overcome Kanner's influence on the interpretation of the diagnosis.

In the late 1980s, she introduced to the psychiatric community the concept of a continuum of autistic disorders (later the word "continuum" was replaced by "spectrum"), and shortly thereafter, the concept of Asperger's syndrome.

Image copyright, Getty

Image caption,

Some researchers are too preoccupied with looking for external causes of autism, such as vaccinations. than the restricted Kanner model.

Wing and colleagues also made it clear that autism is a lifelong developmental disorder, and not the rare early childhood psychosis that Kanner imagined it to be.

When I interviewed Wing for my book in 2011 at the autism center that bears her name in the London suburb of Bromley, she said that after the acceptance of the concept of the autism spectrum disorder by the scientific community, the increase in diagnosed cases of autism was quite expected.

In addition, she categorically denied the connection of autism with vaccination: "It is purely a matter of diagnosis. "

However, in recent years, a significant amount of research, supported by grants from US organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, is devoted to the search for potential external factors in the development of autism (as if this disease were a by-product of life in the modern world).

While the needs of patients and their families for better medical care, affordable housing and employment are not given due attention.

In this sense, America has a lot to learn from the British National Autism Society, which spends the lion's share of its budget on improving the quality of life of autistic people and their loved ones.

Myth 2: People with autism lack empathy

Previously, in the medical literature and in the media, autistic people were often portrayed as emotionless robots incapable of empathy - like sociopaths.

One of the first newspaper articles on Asperger's Syndrome, published in 1990, described the disease as "a disease of people incapable of feelings", and called the patients themselves "cruel" and "heartless".

In fact, people with autism are often very worried about the feelings of others - sometimes so much that it paralyzes their will.

But they have difficulty recognizing the non-verbal cues from others—the subtle changes in facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice—that "neurotypical" (i.e., "normal") people use to inform each other of their current emotional state.

The assumption that autistic people are allegedly devoid of empathy continues to be the cause of unjustifiably cruel treatment of patients by society, including in the form of unfounded statements by public figures.

Image copyright, Getty

Image caption,

Recently, more and more doctors have criticized attempts to get autistic children to behave "normally"

many serial killers.

It would be fair to say that both autistic and non-autistic people have difficulty seeing the world through each other's eyes.

The use of "social stories" - visualization of situations of interpersonal communication - can accelerate the learning process of children with autistic disorders; neurotypical people, in turn, can better understand autistic people by spending more time with them outside of clinics, in conditions of minimal sensory input.

Empathy is a two-way street.

Myth 3: Make autistic children behave "normally"

can be made "indistinguishable" from healthy peers as a result of many years of intensive work to change their behavior in the course of individual lessons.

Lovaas's program, known as Applied Behavior Analysis, is still the world's most widely used method of early intervention for autism.

However, there are a number of problems with this method - to begin with, most families simply cannot afford (neither financially nor logistically) Lovaas' proposed "total immersion" program, which requires the participation of "all the people important to the patient in all significant life situations."

(Practicers of this method now recommend 40 hours of this therapy per week, but even this is beyond the capacity of most parents without significant outside help.)

In addition, Lovaas exaggerated the success of his technique. His former colleague Kristin Lord, a leading researcher in the field of autism, later said that his claims about the successful return of patients to "normal functioning", circulated by the press, "do not correspond to what happened in reality, and cannot be used as a scientific proof of".

Moreover, some adults with autism, recalling being forced to copy the behavior of their normal peers as children, say that this traumatic experience turned into a lifelong sense of anxiety for them.

Image copyright, Getty

Image caption,

Autism must be seen as a serious disorder that affects all aspects of the patient's life

Julia Bascom writes in her memoirs: "As a child, I suffered from autism. And for an autistic person, the worst thing is not being mistreated by others , but therapy.

Barry Prizant, co-author of an alternative learning model for autistic children, has recently published a book in which he urges parents and clinicians to consider "autistic" behavior in an autistic child (such as arm waving and echolalia - repeating other people's words) not as a sign of pathology, but as a strategy for adapting to an environment that looks chaotic, unpredictable and frightening.

The problem with trying to get a child to copy the behavior of ordinary peers is that "the patient is treated as a problem to be solved, not as a person to be understood," notes Prizant.

Such therapy often even worsens the patient's condition: "It is much more useful to try to understand what exactly is causing this behavior."

In trying to understand why a child is behaving in a certain way, parents and clinicians can learn to identify the causes of changes in their emotional state (which may well be such banal irritants as a rubbing collar or the sound of a malfunctioning fluorescent lamp) and, if possible, mitigate their impact.

This can lead to long-term changes in the patient's behavior, as well as help to identify the child's abilities and difficulties to deal with.

Myth 4: We fashionably diagnose eccentric children too often

The problem with Lorna Wing's concept of the spectrum, by her own admission, is that it "blurs the line between disorder and normal eccentricity. "

In other words, each of the symptoms exhibited by autistic people is, to one degree or another, inherent in non-autistic people.

Autistic people are characterized by self-stimulation, or stimming (repetitive movements), while neurotypical people are characterized by fussy movements.

Autistic people have fixations and obsessions, neurotypical people have hobbies and passions.

Autistic people have "sensory sensitivity" (including increased irritability when in contact with a number of materials) - a neurotypical person may simply not like polyester clothing.

In other words, there is a huge gray area between autism and its absence. (One of Wing's favorite sayings was that of British politician Winston Churchill: "Nature never draws sharp lines without blurring them first.")

Researchers have even coined a term for this border zone: the broad autism phenotype.

However, for the most part, people who fall under this definition are simply considered eccentric in everyday life - like that person in a pub, bothering his interlocutors with a detailed story about the course of some historical battle, or a goth girl who adores her cat and recites pieces of dialogue by heart from your favorite sci-fi TV series.

Lately, hipsters' favorite pastime has been labeling autistic "geeks" who have achieved fame. Did Apple co-founder Steve Jobs suffer from a similar disorder? And what about the superhuman performance of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer?

American comedian Jerome Seinfeld, for example, diagnosed himself with autism after watching the Broadway production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, based on the British novel of the same name, where the story is told from the perspective of an autistic boy ( True, Seinfeld soon hurriedly retracted his words).

And herein lies the problem: if billionaires like Mayer or Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg really have autism, and one of America's most famous comedians finds symptoms of this disease himself, why is it that a huge number of autistic adults still have difficulty make ends meet?

Image copyright, Getty

Image caption,

There's a huge gray area between autism and the absence of it

Why do parents of children with autism say they constantly lack the resources to help their child find a job and adjust to independent living? Is autism a functional disorder and not just "different from others"?

The fact of the matter is that autism is precisely a disorder. So serious and comprehensive that it affects almost all aspects of a person's life, which is well known to patients and their loved ones.

Society does a good job of helping people with physical disabilities, but what are the equivalents of wheelchair ramps for mental disabilities?

We are just beginning to explore this issue, although the possibilities of the digital age have greatly expanded the range of options available, including tailoring curricula to the needs and characteristics of individual learners.

After all, quite recently a person who communicates with friends by typing on a keyboard would be said to be disabled. Now every teenager is doing it.

Steve Silberman's book "Neurotribes. A legacy of autism and a smarter approach to people with different minds" published in 2015 by Allen & Unwin .

Read the original of this article in English is available on the website BBC Future .

Research: people suffering from autism are capable of empathy - Gazeta.Ru

Research: people suffering from autism are capable of empathy - Gazeta.Ru | News

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March 29, 2016, 17:06 Science

The myth that people with autism are cold and unsympathetic has been debunked by scientists. According to a recent study, published in Scientific Reports, autistic people tend to empathize with others when put in a "moral dilemma."

According to researchers, autistic people are very empathic and try to avoid harming others more than ordinary people. The myth about the coldness of autistics is most likely due to the presence of alexithymia in patients (inability to understand their own emotions and the emotions of others), which can also occur in healthy people. For a long time, the symptoms of alexithymia were simply confused with the symptoms of autism.

In this study, people with a high level of autism (high IQ) were presented with a moral dilemma - a hypothetical situation in which the decision to save the lives of some is accompanied by the indispensable sacrifice of others. The task was to choose: to kill one person, thereby saving a large number of people, or not to kill anyone directly, as a result, some people will die. If thinkers are rational and pragmatic, they will choose the first option, but avoiding direct harm will be inherent in people who empathize.

By learning to separate the traits of autism and alexithymia, the researchers observed that autistic people were very sensitive to the situation and tended to avoid direct harm, while people with alexithymia decided to get rid of the "problem" person immediately. The authors say that the tools for identifying the differences between the disorder and the personality construct have yet to be refined and supplemented, and the work done is only the first step towards further discoveries.

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