Autism as an Infantile Post-trauma Stress Disorder: A Hypothesis

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder which affects a great number of children around the world while the etiology is largely unclear. A hypothesis that autism is an infantile post-trauma stress disorder (PTSD) was proposed in this article based on comparisons of symptoms between ASD and PTSD and the integration of findings on neural basis of autism and the Intense World Theory of autism. Attachment related trauma was considered as the main traumatic experience related with autism and specific neural basis which interacts with trauma in the development of autism was discussed. Based on the hypothesis, we insisted that restoring the attachment between the child with autism and the parents and re-establishing the sense of security and control in the child were the main goal of interventions for children with autism. 3) Alternations in arousal and reactivity associated with the traumatic event(s). We argue that symptoms of autism perfectly meet the criteria of PTSD as following: Exposure to Traumatic Events Traumatic experience could be found in almost all the cases the corresponding author has treated. The traumatic events include early separation with significant others, frequent change of caregivers, severe physical symptoms and related panic experience in the process of medical treatment, negative parenting and serious family conflict. Many children encountered multiple traumatic experiences and symptoms of autism usually occur after a significant traumatic event. Furthermore, improper treatment could traumatize the child again and worsen the symptoms after the diagnosis of autism has been given. We take one of our cases as an example. Lei (pseudonym) was a 8-year old boy diagnosed as autism when his parents took him into our treatment. A series of traumatic events were found before he got the diagnosis at three. At the birth of Lei, he experienced apnea. This might be the first trauma he experienced although no direct effects of the event could be identified. He seemed to be a normally developed boy at the age from one to two years. At that time, he was sent to the grandmother’s home and met with his parents only in the weekends. This compulsory separation with parents forces the child to adjust new environment and to establish relationship with new caregivers. This experience may do harm to the parent-child relationship and could be a potential trauma to the young child. At age 2, a serious asthma attack happened to him. As the parents recalled, “the symptoms were severe and we were told that the child had to stay in hospital. Doctors and nurses gave him medication and injection several times every day. He