What’s your take? I’m not sure if I know of an historic case of it like IDK maybe 200 or 150 years ago but nowadays I have several cases near of autistic people, so what do you think is old or new?

  • Corporal_Punishment@feddit.ukEnglish
    60·
    3 days ago

    Until the early 1900s, “mild” mental illness such as autism just didn’t exist in a medical sense. People were “odd”, “eccentric” etc and even after autism was formally recognised and studied in the 1940s it was virtually unheard of. Again, people were odd, a bit weird or eccentric.

    There are no records of diagnosed cases of autism or similar before the 1900s because nobody recognised them for what they were.

    Serious mental health issues have been recognised for thousands of years. Records of diagnoses of “lunacy” and “insanity” go back to the 1400s in the UK. Back then the cure was imprisonment in a cage and with regular blood letting and being plunged in cold water.

    • voracitude@lemmy.world
      30·
      3 days ago

      My only correction would be that autism isn’t a mental illness. It’s a difference in brain structure - synaptic density seems to play a significant role (https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/a-key-brain-difference-linked-to-autism-is-found-for-the-first-time-in-living-people/).

      “Eccentric” would indeed have been the word, even as late as the 80s. And that’s just men; women often present symptoms differently, or different symptoms entirely and even today ASD can go unnoticed for much longer in young women.

      • Victor@lemmy.world
        13·
        3 days ago

        The definition and classification of mental disorders are key issues for researchers as well as service providers and those who may be diagnosed. For a mental state to be classified as a disorder, it generally needs to cause dysfunction.[15] Most international clinical documents use the term mental “disorder”, while “illness” is also common. It has been noted that using the term “mental” (i.e., of the mind) is not necessarily meant to imply separateness from the brain or body.

        According to the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), published in 1994, a mental disorder is a psychological syndrome or pattern that is associated with distress (e.g., via a painful symptom), disability (impairment in one or more important areas of functioning), increased risk of death, or causes a significant loss of autonomy.

        In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) redefined mental disorders in the DSM-5 as “a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning.”

        I dunno, sounds to me like autism fits fine with “mental illness”, possibly depending on the severity/placement on the spectrum. Note that mental illness isn’t something easily defined. I just pulled the quotes above from Wikipedia.

      • Victor@lemmy.world
        33·
        3 days ago

        autism isn’t a mental illness. It’s a difference in brain structure

        Define mental illness?

        • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
          4·
          3 days ago

          Probably any neurodivergence that results in causing harm to self or others, and inability to conform with societal norms.

          I pulled that out of me arse but it sounds logical enough.

        • voracitude@lemmy.world
          3·
          3 days ago

          This seems incredibly disingenuous when you can just go search the internet for the definition, and why autism isn’t a classified as mental illness, but sure, I’ll humour you.

          “Autism” is a spectrum of developmental disorders that stem from those brain structure differences I mentioned. An illness is when something is wrong. Not just different, wrong. There’s nothing “wrong” in an autistic person; autism is not a disease or sickness caused by some outside force like a virus or bacteria or drug; it’s not transmissible, and it cannot be developed post hoc (meaning you can’t acquire autism, you’re born with it). There’s no innate reduction in function. It can’t be treated or cured; the symptoms of the mental illnesses caused by dealing with neurotypicals can, but again those aren’t something we’re born with; those are acquired.

          At the root of it, we just process information differently than a neurotypical person due to our brains growing differently. It’s like saying ARM is “silicon illness” because it’s not x86_64.

          https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/publications/health-matters/what-is-autism

          • Victor@lemmy.world
            13·
            3 days ago

            This seems incredibly disingenuous when you can just go search the internet for the definition

            The F? That’s what I did, and posted in the other comment. :⁠-⁠P

            I think there’s a definition of “wrong” here as well. That’s a very subjective definition. My god son has autism, and he has problems in school, and it makes life difficult for his parents and siblings. That’s not “wrong”? It creates harm in some definition.

            I dunno, I’m not trying to blame autistic people or make them seem bad or worth less or something, I’m just saying that it sure feels like an illness sometimes. I also suspect I have some ultra mild placement on the spectrum, and it can be challenging in certain situations.

            • voracitude@lemmy.world
              1·
              3 days ago

              I was responding when you posted that, so I didn’t see it, and you didn’t respond to me, so if you hadn’t said that I might not have seen it at all. And you didn’t bother to look before responding to me because…?

              Moreover, I did you a favour by responding with relevant information instead of just telling you to educate yourself, and you want to act like I’m an asshole for pointing out why your question seemed disingenuous? Cool, cheers.

              • Victor@lemmy.world
                12·
                3 days ago

                and you didn’t respond to me, so if you hadn’t said that I might not have seen it at all.

                But I did respond to you. The comment with the definitions from Wikipedia is a response to your comment.

                And you didn’t bother to look before responding to me because…?

                Didn’t bother, or didn’t have time at the moment. 🤷‍♂️ Sometimes life happens. When I had time, I bothered, as you saw. 👍

                you want to act like I’m an asshole

                What? No, I don’t. Why would I? 🤨

    • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      3 days ago

      Back then the cure was imprisonment in a cage and with regular blood letting and being plunged in cold water.

      And by drilling holes in the skull. Plus probably various other horrible ‘treatments’ that just created extra problems without fixing the original (and very vaguely understood) issue.