While autism is never caused by trauma, there may be something about living with autism that is inherently traumatic.
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.
The risk of PTSD is higher for groups who are more likely to be exposed to traumatic events. Research indicates that autistic people may be more likely to experience traumatic life events, particularly interpersonal traumas such as bullying and physical and sexual abuse.
For example, if an individual with autism experiences trauma and bullying growing up, they are likely to have social anxiety and become easily overstimulated in social situations. This, in turn, can cause autism meltdowns, anxiety, and depression.
Can complex PTSD be misdiagnosed as autism? Yes, the two conditions have many overlapping symptoms and may occasionally confuse each other. A clinician could misinterpret why the child isn't communicating well and connecting with others. It's certainly possible that a child with autism could also develop PTSD.
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”.
There are many myths about what causes autism. Over the years, scientists have debunked many of these myths. The claim that MMR vaccines or childhood neglect are responsible for autism is not based on medical science.
Abuse before pregnancy and abuse during pregnancy may both increase risk of ASD through stress, behavioral, or other pathways.
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.
Childhood maltreatment increases risk for developing psychiatric disorders (e.g. mood and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], antisocial and borderline personality disorders, and alcohol/substance use disorders [A/SUDs]).
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Children and adolescents with PTSD have symptoms such as persistent, frightening thoughts and memories or flashbacks of a traumatic event or events.
Childhood disintegrative disorder.
This was the rarest and most severe part of the spectrum. It described children who develop normally and then quickly lose many social, language, and mental skills, usually between ages 2 and 4. Often, these children also developed a seizure disorder.
However, autism symptoms can show up later in higher-functioning individuals when they're under more demand or challenge, making an adult autism diagnosis possible. In addition, some adults who were not diagnosed in childhood may be later diagnosed in adulthood.
Trauma-induced changes to the brain can result in varying degrees of cognitive impairment and emotional dysregulation that can lead to a host of problems, including difficulty with attention and focus, learning disabilities, low self-esteem, impaired social skills, and sleep disturbances (Nemeroff, 2016).
Air pollution – Researchers found early-life exposure to air pollution may be a risk factor for autism. Children of mothers living near a freeway, and traffic-related pollution, during the third trimester of pregnancy were twice as likely to develop ASD.
Adults with ASD are more than four times likely to be diagnosed with PTSD than adults without ASD (6). Thus, there are indications of a higher prevalence of exposure to traumatic events and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children and adults with ASD.
Inheritance. ASD has a tendency to run in families, but the inheritance pattern is usually unknown. People with gene changes associated with ASD generally inherit an increased risk of developing the condition, rather than the condition itself.
1 People with other neurodivergencies, like schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), might also stim.
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.
Does The Father Or Mother Carry The Autism Gene? Autism was always thought to have a maternal inheritance component, however, research suggests that the rarer variants associated with the disorder are usually inherited from the father.
Several different genes appear to be involved in autism spectrum disorder. For some children, autism spectrum disorder can be associated with a genetic disorder, such as Rett syndrome or fragile X syndrome. For other children, genetic changes (mutations) may increase the risk of autism spectrum disorder.
In 348 epidemiologically ascertained toddler twins, we explored associations between autistic traits and three robust, highly heritable predictors of familial autism recurrence: variation in attention, motor coordination, and parental autistic trait burden.
Masked trauma are those traumatic events, histories, and symptoms which are hidden, i.e. not clearly evident to clients, providers/caregivers, and/or significant others.
Some research suggests autistic people may experience difficulties in their daily lives, such as social isolation, bullying and not being accepted by their peers. These may be traumatic experiences for autistic people, which could lead or contribute to PTSD symptoms.