The Autism Spectrum Conditions and the Extreme Male Brain Syndrome

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the current understanding of autism and autism-related syndromes. It explains the process of diagnosis and cover some of the options for education and intervention to help improve the lives of those individuals who suffer from these conditions. Autism can affect young children as well as adults and is often debilitating through disruption of socialization, mood states and intelligence. Paradoxically, in some cases, autism can also result in enhanced abilities in specific areas such as pattern recognition, art, music and mathematics. Furthermore, some people with autism can have normal or even high IQ levels. The chapter also outlines prevailing theories which go some way towards explaining the main symptoms of autism conditions, such as the Extreme Male Brain and the Empathizing-Systemizing hypotheses. In addition, a number of biomarker-related studies have now been carried out which have helped to increase our understanding of the underlying physiological pathways that are altered in individuals with these conditions. Such studies have looked both in the brain and the periphery, in line with the whole body concept of psychiatric conditions. This includes the investigation of predisposing genes, which can increase the risk of developing autism, and environmental factors that could either act separately or in concert with the genetic factors to bring about these conditions. Further advances along these avenues could result in identification of novel biomarkers which in turn could lead to earlier detection and more effective treatments. Although there are still no drugs for treatment of the autism spectrum conditions, it is anticipated that further studies driven by identification and application of physiological biomarkers will soon turn this deficit around. This can only be achieved by increasing our knowledge on the affected pathways in the brain and periphery, and identification of much-needed novel drug targets.