In recent posts I have referred to the notion of an “urban myth” more than a few times, thanks to its use in a February 6th op-ed, Fact: No link of vaccine, autism, by Arthur Caplan, Emanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. On February 6th, I wrote about the vaccine-autism urban myth and, on February 9th, about three more “urban myths”: the decline of Roman civilization due to lead poisoning, the autism epidemic and New Jersey is toxic.
A commenter has added another, autism-related, urban myth of her or his own devising. On February 9th, GTP commented on the post The Vaccine-Autism Urban Myth:
True. The Romans were aware that lead caused serious health issues, even death. They (like society today) chose to ignore it or ignore the hazards it posed.
Complex interplay of forces? Sure- The Roman empire failed for many reasons such as over-expansion. But, impaired thinking skills also contributed to the decline. It’s well documented about craziness among the Roman elite. Does anyone remember reading about Caligula?
Lead contributes to impaired critical thinking skills as does mercury. Unfortunately our youngest are still paying the price today.
I wonder in the future if someone will say Autism is an urban myth and theorize that bad mothering is the reason.
In response, I noted that “GTP” had indeed mentioned an actual urban myth, namely the notion of “refrigerator mothers”—the theory that poor parenting skills (especially on the part of emotionally “frigid” mothers) is the cause of autism. Self-proclaimed child development expert Bruno Bettelheim was the main proponent of this theory according to which “autism is caused not just by bad parenting but by parents who wish their child did not exist” (see the Unstrange website page on Bettelheim). Echoes of this theory still exist (see Handle with Care: Romanian Orphanages, Extreme Situations, and Autism) and another commenter has commented on what happened in his own family because of the refrigerator mother theory. From what Derrick Jeffries wrote on February 2nd:
I am also a parent of a child with Autism, and the brother of a sister with Autism. I have Asperger’s Syndrome myself. I have many personal perspectives about Autism. Been living with it since 1961. My mother was one of the original “refrigerator mothers.” Do you think you have it bad today? Have you ever had a nurse come out to your house to observe you, and to see if you LOVED your child?
I know a little bit about parents grief also. I experienced it as a baby, while my mother left me laying in the crib for hours as she cried her eyes out about my sister’s Autism. How do I know? My oldest sister told me so.
I also experienced grief when I found out that my son had Autism. I got over it! I found out about my own Autism through him. I understand him better because of it. My mother never got over her grief. She thinks she understands Autism. But how can she understand it, if she cannot let go of her grief? She is now in her 80’s.
To have a nurse visit one’s household to observe one’s mother, and see if one’s own mother loved you: This is the kind of thing that I would readily concede to be “urban myth,” to be a “myth” in the sense of a popular fiction or falsehood, about a disguised and even distorted truth. And to hear Jeffries write about this is to realize how, indeed, myths—however fantastic and terrible they may seem—contain some truth: Myths tell us something about how a society perceives and strives to understand the world and all its cavalcade of events and phenomena. Thus, in order to understand how people in previous decades could have believed the now-widely discredited notion of the “refrigerator mother” as the cause of autism,we need also to consider the historical, post World War II, context in the US, a period which saw the rise of such child development “experts” as Dr. Spock and, indeed Bettelheim himself. A theory like the refrigerator mother theory—a psychogenic theory for the aetiology of autism—was the kind of theory that was likely to arise in such a climate of ideas and beliefs.
Part of the mythology of the refrigerator mother theory is, I think, that we today think we are so much more enlightened about autism and that we would never believe something so “obviously” wrong. How could parents in the past have ever believed such a ridiculous notion, we all but laugh—but the reality is that people did believe, that it was fact, not myth, even as today some will go to their graves swearing that vaccines or mercury or some other environmental factor cause their child to become autism, while others will argue that autism is genetic (and cite examples of autistic persons in their family trees, diagnosed or undiagnosed) and that there is more autism being reported because we have a better understanding about what autism is. We are living (in the words of columns written by UPI journalist Dan Olmsted) in the “Age of Autism.”
As may or may not be clear from what I write here, I think that autism is genetic and I think that we are seeing more autism because we are able to see more—we as a culture have a more refined understanding of what autism is, and hence are able to detect it earlier and in more children (and adults); we are also fortunate to be living at a time when there are almost too many different treatment options and protocols for helping autistic children, and at a time when all of this information can be easily accessed via a home computer and the Internet.
Indeed, the Internet and email are two key elements in the circulation of urban myths. I turn to another core fixture of Internet lore—Wikipedia—for a definition of “urban myth”:
An urban legend is a kind of modern folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. The term is often used with a meaning similar to the expression “apocryphal story.” Urban legends are not necessarily untrue, but they are often false, distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized. Despite the name, urban legends do not necessarily take place in an urban setting. The name is designed to differentiate them from traditional folklore in preindustrial times.
Urban legends are sometimes repeated in news stories and, in recent years, distributed by e-mail. People frequently say such tales happened to a “friend of a friend”—so often, in fact, that “friend of a friend”, or “FOAF”, has become a commonly used term for this sort of story.
………………..
Some urban legends have survived a long time, evolving only slightly over the years, as in the case of the story of a woman killed by spiders nesting in her elaborate hairdo. Others are new and reflect modern circumstances, like the story of people being anaesthetized and waking up minus a kidney surgically removed for transplant.
“Often thought to be factual by those circulating them”; “necessarily untrue, but ….. often false, distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized”; “distributed by e-mail”: How much of your information about autism do you receive via the Internet? To what extent, if at all, does the author of the information that you read identify him or herself and any professional affiiations and philosophic viewpoints? Does the author reference their sources and provide bibliographic information for them? Do you sense irony in anything written by this author; does anything seem hyperbolic and even too good to be true? If you were not a weary, worried parent desperate not to see your child go through the terrible tantrum that he or she went through earlier today (I refer here to myself several years ago, mother of a much younger Charlie, but I suspect that most parents of autistic children have felt this), would you still believe that certain oils or enzymes or shots might alleviate the symptoms of autism and—let’s not even talk about mainstreaming—-just help a child not to suffer so much, just to say one syllable of one word?
Another definition of “myth” is that these provide an explanation of how something in the world came to be. For instance, the classical myth of Daphne and Apollo is the explanation for how the laurel tree came to be Apollo’s tree, while the myth of Echo and Narcissus explains both what an “echo” is and also how the narcissus flower came to be. These are elegant, yet simple, stories, that provide fairly straightforward answers about phenomena in the world. They are far from scentifically correct; they tell us something about the mentality of the ancient people who created them and to this extent they are true.
But they are not true in the sense that there was some actual anthropomorphic god who chased some nymph who then, on praying to her river-father, became a tree.
Just as the myths—urban or not—of Autismland, of vaccines and epidemics and toxins in the environment are not untrue. These are genuinely believed and thought to be truly true.
And then there is what science and its evidence tell us: No, there is no link, and not, certainly, a direct one.
Why do so many myths about autism—does so much autism mythology—continue to exist?
This is an aside to Kristina’s post asking me if I read Pollak’s “Creation of Dr. B:”
Look up “Creation of Dr. B” on Amazon.com *books.* In *reviews* you will find one written by “a reader” titled “Does anyone want the views of an autistic?”
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0684846403/sr=1-1/qid=1189575878/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop/105-7149477-7462060?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&n=283155&s=books&customer-reviews.start=1&qid=1189575878&sr=1-1#R1QA1YWBZAAQW0
That was me.
Here is a link to Leo Kanner’s orginal paper on autism:
http://aspires-relationships.com/articles_autistic_disturbances_of_affective_contact.htm
Hi Regan. You are right that Time Magazine is not academic! Criminy! I can quote Bettelheim as saying that he didn’t think a mother’s coldness preceded autism or was the cause of autism. The worst he said was that he hoped a physiological cause was never found, because he was afraid it would dehumanize his patients. He was like a mother hen. He knew autistics had rich inner lives, but couldn’t convince parents of this. The ones who left their children in his care saw their autistic kids as feral animals.
I also have a copy of Kanner’s original paper on autism. It mentioned a wide variety of possible connections, including genetics and difficult birth.
Time Magazine also provided the cover page story “Is Freud Dead?” then proceeded to get everything wrong or bass-ackwards and full of cheap scorn and innuendo. Time is good at hit pieces after the objects of their superior scorn really IS dead.
Thx for posting the info & links Regan. In the last year or so, I’ve been reviewing some of the psychoanalytic literature and revisiting old dx. terms no longer used (which I remember!). More later.
Apologies for a lengthy sidebar from past issues of Time magazine, but I thought this might be of interest in the thread of “refrigerator” parents or mothers as a chronology from most recent to earliest. It’s not academic, but I thought that it was interesting as source and evolution.
The Trance Children
Friday, Aug. 01, 1969
Time Magazine
“Until Dr. Leo Kanner of Johns Hopkins University identified and defined the disease in 1943, most doctors concluded that autistic children were mentally retarded, and could recommend nothing more than packing them off to a vegetable-like existence in a custodial institution. Kanner, taking more careful note of their mental abilities, concluded that the disease was a psychosis. He felt that the condition was innate, but noted that many parents of autistic children were highly intellectual and emotionally cold—”refrigerator parents,” as he called them. Other experts in autism, including Chicago Psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim, accept the theory that parental rejection is the basic cause of the children’s problems…”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901192,00.html
The Child Is Father
Monday, Jul. 25, 1960
Time Magazine
“…But there is one type of child to whom even Dr. Kanner cannot get close. All too often this child is the offspring of highly organized, professional parents, cold and rational—the type that Dr. Kanner describes as “just happening to defrost enough to produce a child.”…”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,826528,00.html
Frosted Children
Monday, Apr. 26, 1948
Time Magazine
…”The parents wanted to do the right thing by them; but their idea of the right thing was “the mechanized service of the kind which is rendered by an over-conscientious gasoline station attendant.” The children, says Dr. Kanner, were “kept neatly in a refrigerator which didn’t defrost.”…
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798484,00.html
Naughty Children
Monday, Jul. 15, 1935
Time Magazine
“Says Dr. Kanner: “The mother is often apt to quote diagnostic terms obtained through reading or from previous medical, osteopathic, or chiropractic consultations cr[sic] from some supposedly enlightened relative or neighbor. How much harm may be done in this manner…
In a great many cases a child misbehaves because that is the only way he knows to defend himself from unpleasant household situations. And in many cases a child misbehaves because his mother spoils him or puts naughty notions in his head.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,748866-1,00.html
Wow. Interesting and wide ranging comments.
For me it winds down to a thought similar to Kev’s. That which is not explainable lends itself to mythology. Some things are better known, we believe at this time, but there is a tremendous void ready for explanation, in some cases invented or distorted.
In re: swings from psychoanalytic model to medical model, this might be of interest:
Leith, M.G. (1999). Psychiatric illness and the politics of blame (review of Madness on the couch: blaming the victim in the heyday of psychoanalysis and Blaming the brain: the real truth about drugs and mental health).CMAJ, January 26; 160(2): 233–234.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1229996
[...] who are not autistic, or who do not live with an autistic person, about what autism is, versus autism mythology). I have a lot more to say on this topic as commentary to your comments, and all the more so as it [...]
To hj:
The thing that struck me as most interesting was how “floor time” is so similar to Bettelheim’s Orthogenic School routine, as well as Melanie Klein’s “play therapy.”
As for the attempt to find signs of autism in three-month-olds, I don’t know anything about that, but it looked interesting, and psychoanalysts were involved, so I decided to include it.
You know, Freud was pessimistic about the future of psychoanalysis as a therapy. He figured that eventually everything could be fixed with chemicals. The only thing he was really enthused about was that his procedure threw light on the mechanics of thought. I love reading Freud just for the FUN.
Thanks, I always read backwards (meaning the links). So, I hadn’t hit the top ones yet.
To hj: The first three links on my third reply to you are redundant. I didn’t realize this until now. Duh. Even so, three psychoanalysts are listed in the group, so I suppose it still counts as a handful.
Yours,
Larry
To Kristina:
This is not kosher, but I can’t resist posting a letter written by Bettelheim to a stranger who wrote him asking for advice. The letter was published by its recipient on the internet, and I saved it to my hard drive. I think it will give you a little more insight into the between-the-lines Bruno Bettelheim:
http://f9g.yahoofs.com/groups/g_hr_20254108/d5d9/__hr_/8d67.jpg?grID83GBJQ_Dtmtf
Larry, sorry I did not respond to your earlier question until now: When I have mentioned reading Bettelheim, many parents ask me, “why bother?”
Thank-you for the links Larry. I’ve always had an interest in psychoanalysis and am old enough to have seen in it be a somewhat common form of treatment from whence I came. Even with kids.
It’s been longer than I care to say as to when I studied Bettelheim, so I’d have to re-read “The Empty Fortress”, which I shall do, in order to honestly answer your question. I did re-read “Uses of Enchantment” while working on some kind of creative project, but now that’s been ages as well.
And, oh, the quiz isn’t over. I suppose it’s how I ask questions.
Thanks again for all the links. I shall read each and every one.
There is much to read between the lines of The Empty Fortress—much of Bettelheim himself comes through in his writing.
Some more names of psychoanalysts who treat autism– for hj:
http://www.mifne-autism.com/int_pre_autism_network.htm
http://www.ipan-infant-autism.org/about.html
http://styluspub.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=163860
http://margaretmahler.org/therapists/resources/summaries/APA04winter.html
http://www.division39.org/pub_reviews_detail.php?book_id=228
Incidentally; this is the second time hj has given me a quiz. I love quizzes. They’re fun. I think it’s only right for me to return the favor…
I’ll think of a good one later.
Hi hj: Also, check out Anne Alvarez:
http://www.amazon.com/Live-Company-Psychoanalytic-Borderline-Psychotic/dp/0415060974/ref=sr_1_1/105-7149477-7462060?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189014557&sr=1-1
Hi hj.
Here’s one:
http://books.google.com/books?id=n8NQNYorbxcC&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=melanie+klein+treatment+for+autism&source=web&ots=DrGpn4P8AF&sig=VbWloKi_F-Z661zlEYRzZhLB-Vw
Also, look up Robert Maxwell Young’s biography of Melanie Klein.
I have to get to work now, but there’s more where this came from if you want further evidence.
Incidentally, do you think Bettelheim was lying in “The Empty Fortress” when he reported case histories both of successes and failures?
“Uses of Enchantment” — I’ve read it more than once. Also, I studied Bettelheim’s works years ago at more than one university.
Please elaborate on the alleged decades-old cure, Larry.
Further, please provide names of psychoanalysts who are able to administer said cure.
Yes, I saw the film and I read Pollak’s hit piece. The film reminded me of the Oprah Winfrey Show. The book was a personal attack against Bettelheim. The author was ignorant of elementary psychoanalytic theory though.
Again; has anyone on this list read any of Bettelheim’s books.
Also, I see no comments on the evidence I provided. Anyone can do a casual Google search and come up with similar evidence. It’s sort of silly though. There is an entire branch of science–Psychoanalysis–that studies autism and understands it in depth; and all Psychoanalysis contends that autism is caused by trauma.
Larry, Have you see the film Refrigerator Mothers or read Richard Pollak’s biography of Bettelheim, The Creation of Dr. B?