In Practice

A Practicing Doctor's Views on Psychiatry and Contemporary Culture.

Peter D. Kramer is a psychiatrist and author. His books include Against Depression and Listening to Prozac. See full bio

July 31, 2008, Autism

Comments on "Dear Abby: Is Autism a Mental Illness?"

Dear Abby: Is Autism a Mental Illness?

By Peter D. Kramer on July 31, 2008 in In Practice

“Dear Abby” has been “corrected” by readers who find her “way off base” for misclassifying autism. In a prior column, she had called it a “mental-health disorder.” Now she accepts that she was mistaken.
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Neither here nor there

Submitted by david Petropoulos on July 31, 2008 - 7:01am.

Those who come to have chronic depression,aren't they genetically predetermined to wither and buckle to stress and not extraordinary stress but even very mild stress? One of the developmental differences between Autism (ADD) and DEPRESSION is the emotional development. The former tend to improve over the years the ladder(DEPRESSION) tend to get worse.Too bad this could not of developed into a longer discussion.-Were you hinting at another book, when you said ''longer writing projects''. IF you need cover art for it, you can procure me for free. Enjoy your time off !-Sincerely David

ROY MASTERS BLAMES SCHOOLS AND PARENTS FOR AUTISM

Submitted by Ted on July 31, 2008 - 8:38am.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga5j4MSlKdw&feature=related

Is Autism a Mental Illness

Submitted by Josh . on September 13, 2008 - 7:51am.

It may be irresponsible to characterize autism as any of the three things you wrote with absolute certainty. Is it true that the social environment has no influence on the development of autism?

- A student