489 research outputs found
Psychopharmakologie autistischer Störungen
No full textAutism spectrum disorders (ASD) are persistent, heterogeneous conditions that display many comorbid problems. Especially maladaptive behaviours like increased irritability, aggression, impulsivity and self-injurious behaviours are perceived as enormously stressful and can interfere with interventions targeting social and communication deficits. Medication treatments focussing on troubling comorbid problems in ASD can be fundamentally ameliorative, although core features of the disorder itself cannot be sufficiently treated. While atypical antipsychotics and stimulant medication have been proven to be effective in large multisite networks of ASD, serotonin reuptake inhibitors are of limited efficacy. Novel pharmacotherapies to improve social impairment are in the early stages of research
Brief report : the level and nature of autistic intelligence revisited
No full textOwing to higher performance on the Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM) than on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales (WIS), it has recently been argued that intelligence is underestimated in autism. This study examined RPM and WIS IQs in 48 individuals with autism, a mixed clinical (n = 28) and a neurotypical (n = 25) control group. Average RPM IQ was higher than WIS IQ only in the autism group, albeit to a much lesser degree than previously reported and only for individuals with WIS IQs <85. Consequently, and given the importance of reliable multidimensional IQ estimates in autism, the WIS are recommended as first choice IQ measure in high functioning individuals. Additional testing with the RPM might be required in the lower end of the spectrum
Autistic traits and autism spectrum disorders : the clinical validity of two measures presuming a continuum of social communication skills
No full textResearch indicates that autism is the extreme end of a continuously distributed trait. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and the Social and Communication Disorders Checklist (SCDC) aim to assess autistic traits. The objective of this study was to compare their clinical validity. The SRS showed sensitivities of .74 to .80 and specificities of .69 to 1.00 for autism. Sensitivities were .85 to .90 and specificities .28 to.82 for the SCDC. Correlations with the ADI-R, ADOS and SCQ were higher for the SRS than for the SCDC. The SCDC seems superior to the SRS to screen for unspecific social and communicative deficits including autism. The SRS appears more suitable than the SCDC in clinical settings and for specific autism screening
A close eye on the eagle-eyed visual acuity hypothesis of autism
No full textAutism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been associated with sensory hypersensitivity. A recent study reported visual acuity (VA) in ASD in the region reported for birds of prey. The validity of the results was subsequently doubted. This study examined VA in 34 individuals with ASD, 16 with schizophrenia (SCH), and 26 typically developing (TYP). Participants with ASD did not show higher VA than those with SCH and TYP. There were no substantial correlations of VA with clinical severity in ASD or SCH. This study could not confirm the eagle-eyed acuity hypothesis of ASD, or find evidence for a connection of VA and clinical phenotypes. Research needs to further address the origins and circumstances associated with altered sensory or perceptual processing in ASD
Specificity of basic symptoms in early onset schizophrenia
No full textDevelopmental psychopathology addresses several important questions of the pathogenesis of psychotic disorders proposing a conceptual framework, which includes developmental psychology, neurobiology and clinical psychopathology. The first question to be raised is the contribution of normal developmental processes to the pathogenesis of psychotic symptoms, ending up with the second question, what impacts psychopathology itself may exert on normal development concerning defects, vulnerabilities and disturbances of age-dependent adaptive processes [11]. Normal cognitive and emotional development seems to be a prerequisite for symptom formation. These assumptions may help us in the interpretation of different psychotic and prodromal phenomena in children and adolescents. Looking at the table of ages, we find overlapping disturbances in various age groups. First manifestations of pervasive developmental disorders - Kanner-Autism [7] - can be detected in the age group from birth to six years. Asperger syndrome [2] may be particularly detected in the age group between six and nine years. In this age group also very early onset psychosis can be elucidated, which shows predominantly formal thought disorder and inappropriate affect. Very early onset psychoses presenting with hallucinations and delusions rather seem to start off in the age group between nine and twelve years. Of these patients, 60% show developmental disorders of speech and language, and about one third present with pervasive developmental disorders in prodromal stages [1]. Early onset psychoses with a lifetime prevalence of about 0.23% begin in the age group between twelve and eighteen [3]. Adult psychosis presents with prodromal features that reach back into ages around and before puberty [5]. From an epidemiological point of view all these groups of disorders may be found during the adolescent age
The 5-HT transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) in evolutionary perspective: Alternative biallelic variation in rhesus monkeys
No full textChildhood behavioral inhibition and maternal symptoms of depression
No full textBACKGROUND: The significance of behavioral inhibition in the second year of life for the development of social phobia in later childhood was the incentive to explore whether maternal postnatal psychopathology is a predictor for behavioral inhibition in the offspring.; METHOD: 101 mother-infant pairs were recruited from local obstetric units and examined for maternal psychopathology by the Symptom Checklist and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale several times during the first postnatal year. Child behavioral inhibition was assessed at 14 months in a laboratory procedure.; RESULTS: Postpartum depression at 4 months measured by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was found to be strongly associated with toddlers' fear score/behavioral inhibition at 14 months. Maternal depressive symptoms assessed by the revised 90-item Symptom Checklist at 6 weeks , 4 and 14 months were found to be related to child inhibition as well.; CONCLUSIONS: Even maternal depression not reaching the level of clinical diagnosis and treatment has an impact on child behavioral development. These data should give rise to further studies on the origins of this relationship, which might be primarily genetic or interactional. 2007 S. Karger AG, Base
Temperament and Sensitivity for Social and Non-Social Reward in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders
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Temperament and Sensitivity for Social and Non-Social Reward in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders
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