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Let’s talk about catatonia

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Catatonia is a syndrome which includes immobility, stupor, and sometimes regression in psychiatric wellness or even ability to feed or take care of ones self. This syndrome is seen in autism about 10% of the time but is is often overlooked or misdiagnosed. This may be because the symptoms are relatively rare or because catatonia is harder to detect in those with autism. This week, special guests Drs. Joshua Smith and Dr. Zachary Williams from Vanderbilt University discuss what happens when researchers following people who are suffering from catatonia and autism across time. What treatments work? How?

Click to access AUR-18-449.pdf

ASF has partnered with NCSA, Autism Speaks, Vanderbilt University, the Catatonia Foundation and other groups to bring you a 6 part series on catatonia given by experts and family members. It is aimed at increasing the visibility and research priority of catatonia. It is NOT this podcast – you have to register via zoom seperately here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/RV6rkPh_SAW8Hw3wmQdCrg

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Health Concerns Across 3 Generations

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Are you the grandparent, cousin, aunt, uncle, sibling, or half-sibling of someone with autism and wondered “what is the likelihood of autism in families, and the likelihood of comorbid conditions if I have a family member with autism?” Researchers at the AJ Drexel Autism Research Institute and Aarhus University in Denmark collaborated to calculate probabilities between autism in a person and dozens of other comorbid conditions in family members. They not only made the paper open to the public for everyone to read it, but they also created a publicly available data visualization tool so anyone can go on and look at specific situations of particular family relationships relating to anything from autoimmune conditions to mental health and psychiatric diagnosis. Links below for reference:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39283002

Interactive graphs: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/diana.schendel/viz/ASDPlots_16918786403110/e-Figure5

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We need more psychiatrists with expertise in autism

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General psychiatrists are trained deal with a range of psychiatric issues in a variety of areas, but very few have experience helping families of children and adults with autism. This is training that is desperately needed, as, like other professions, there are not enough psychiatrists to help families and waitlists are staggering. Dr. Arthur Westover at UT Southwestern discusses some potentially simple solutions, what he has tried and worked, and how families and advocacy groups can get more involved to ensure that doctors know about the unique and difficult psychiatric issues that autistics face. His ideas will not happen spontaneously, it’s going to take work to make psychiatrists more tuned into the needs of the autism community. He even wrote a paper (link below).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38782841

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The Trouble with Transitions

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This podcast has not covered transition from adolescence to adulthood in the past, probably because there has not been a lot of research in this area. Luckily, recently there has been a surge of investigations and scientifically – supported interventions and recommendations for individuals who are transitioning to adulthood. This podcast reviews the latest in where the gaps are and identified some (of many) areas that need further research. Here are the references that will be helpful.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38493400/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38501189/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38423723/

https://www.autismspeaks.org/tool-kit/transition-tool-kit

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Are new ICD-11 criteria for an autism diagnosis too vague?

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In the last version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the different subtypes of autism were folded into one label: autism spectrum disorder. A similar revision is being made around the International Classification of Diseases, the system the WHO uses across the world to describe autism and provide appropriate reimbursements for services and supports. In this version, the ICD-11, a combination of 300 different presentations of autism are described. A diagnosis can be made if 1 feature of social-communication and 1 feature of repetitive behaviors are documented, with an onset of any time in life. This is causing a lot of confusion in the community, because since the presentations are not specific to autism, it is difficult to provide an accurate diagnosis using the ICD-11. This week we talk to German psychiatrist Inge Kamp-Becker, MD, who outlines what the changes are, and how misdiagnosis can be made and what those consequences might be. Her summary is linked below.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-023-02354-y