Children who experience trauma when they are young may display autism-like behaviours that fit the timeline for an ASD diagnosis, which tends to occur around early school-age. In the absence of trauma-informed assessment, autism can sometimes be the default diagnosis.
If a child develops CPTSD due to trauma early in life, they could also be misdiagnosed with autism. However, a mental health professional should be able to distinguish these two conditions because they are different.
Differences between PTSD and Autism
PTSD is typically triggered by a traumatic event, while autism is a developmental disorder that is present from birth. People with PTSD may experience flashbacks or nightmares related to the traumatic event, while people with autism do not experience these types of symptoms.
Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are two serious conditions that affect youth. Recent data, both preclinical and clinical, show that pediatric TBI and ASD share not only similar symptoms but also some of the same biologic mechanisms that cause these symptoms.
Scientists have been attempting to identify which genes might be implicated in autism for some years. Autism is likely to have multiple genes responsible rather than a single gene. However, it is not caused by emotional deprivation or the way a person has been brought up.
There are other brain disorders that mimic autism symptoms, like ADHD and anxiety disorders, including selective mutism. Autism can be misdiagnosed as another disorder with some shared symptoms.
Although the exact cause of autism is still unknown, there is evidence to suggest that genetics play a significant role. Since autism is less prevalent in females, autism was always thought to be passed down from the mother. However, research suggests that autism genes are usually inherited from the father.
It is a spectrum disorder, meaning there is a broad variation in the types and severity of symptoms. No two people with ASD have the same symptoms. Borderline autism is not an official term or diagnosis. Instead, it is an informal term referring to less severe ASD symptoms.
Fawning is an attempt to avoid conflict by appeasing people. They are both extremely common in neurodiverse people as it is a way for them to hide their neurodiverse behaviours and appear what is deemed to be “normal”. Therefore, it has been proposed that masking and fawning are just modern-day survival instincts.
Exposure to high levels of both sexual abuse and physical and emotional abuse could be associated with greater risk for autism in offspring than exposure to either type alone.
Stimming is a normal behavior for people on the spectrum, but watch out for changes. Autistic people might stim in order to reduce anxiety, so an increase in stimming could be a cause for concern. New self-harm behaviors, like head-banging or scratching, could also appear after trauma.
While false memories appear to occur equally often in ASD, there appear to be subtle group differences in the ways in which emotion enhances memory and promotes false memories in individuals with ASD versus TYP– findings that are consistent with the proposition that ASD involves atypical integration of cognition and ...
You might have difficulties trusting, low self-esteem, fears of being judged, constant attempts to please, outbursts of frustration, or social anxiety symptoms that won't let up. Can childhood trauma be healed?
Children are often diagnosed with autism before the age of 3. However, it's not unusual for a child with lower support needs and less-recognizable traits (sometimes called high-functioning autism) to go undiagnosed until social challenges arise in school. Some people are not diagnosed with autism until adulthood.
There is not just one cause of ASD. There are many different factors that have been identified that may make a child more likely to have ASD, including environmental, biologic, and genetic factors.
Signs of High-Functioning Autism in Children
May appear more mature for their age and have above-average intelligence. A tendency to avoid eye contact. Trouble deviating from a routine or adapting to changes. Trouble making friends and maintaining social relationships or not “fitting in” with peers.
Autism is not an illness
It means your brain works in a different way from other people. It's something you're born with. Signs of autism might be noticed when you're very young, or not until you're older. If you're autistic, you're autistic your whole life.
Autism genetics expert Ivan Iossifov breaks down recent research that sheds light on how unaffected parents can pass autism onto their child. Parents with no history of autism in their families have a child who is diagnosed with the disorder. It's a common and upsetting story.
It is possible to be mildly autistic, but many of the behaviors and preferences found in autistic people are also common to people who do not have autism. The difference is that autistic people engage in these behaviors in different ways and for different reasons.
Early signs of autism can be detected in babies by playing peek-a-boo, research has shown. If their brains respond less than they should to the stimulating game they are more likely to be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as toddlers.
We respond by avoiding the distressing stimuli—avoidance being another core feature of PTSD. All of this hints at a complex and poorly understood relationship between autism and PTSD. While autism is never caused by trauma, there may be something about living with autism that is inherently traumatic.
Many biological conditions can lead to social difficulties, including autism. However, not all autistic individuals will display social awkwardness (though they may struggle inwardly). Moreover, not everyone who is socially awkward is autistic. And, in fact, they don't necessarily have a diagnosable condition.