Autism and the Ct. School Shootings

    I very seldom, in fact so far as I can remember, never comment on current events using my Psychological Training or Cognitive Science as an element.   I try to keep that separate.

     However, I am becoming very disturbed at the facile way reporters and commentators are throwing around terms such as "Autism" and "Asperger's Syndrome" as related to causation in the situation.    Neither is or could be true.  It is possible that some sort of identity disorder could be involved, but this is not Dustin Hoffman or Jerry from Boston Legal. 

    End of story.  If you want to know more, let me know.   Otherwise, look elsewhere for the causes.

Review of an old article about Ellis - more relevant for statistics today

Lichtenberg, J. W., Johnson, D. D., & Arachtingi, B. M.  Physical illness and subscription to Ellis's irrational beliefs.       Journal of Counseling & Development, 71(2), 157-163.

 

Overview:

     There is a significant correlation between subscription to Ellis's irrational beliefs and physical illness.  As the abstract states, "...the older the participant, and more often for women, higher need for approval, higher need for competency and achievement, lower need to find perfect solutions to problems, and to a lesser extent, higher dependence on stronger persons were correlated with a greater number of organ systems affected by illness, a greater number of chronic illnesses, and to a lesser extent, a greater total frequency of illness."  (157)  However, it is not entirely clear which is the dependent and which the independent variable.  Many of these irrational beliefs are stressors, furthermore, and this study at least supports the contention that stress is a cause of illness.

 

PERSONAL RESPONSE

Overall Reaction to the Article:

     This is one of the most tightly written and thoughtful of all the research articles I had read in the area of the behavioral and social sciences in general.  It is not simply or clearly written, but it is very precise and, so far as I am able to tell, address all of the significant research design issues. 

     For example, one possible flaw would be the fact that the history of illness was self-reported, but studies cited indicate that such self-reports are 82% to 93% accurate.  (159)  While this "builds in" a degree of inaccuracy, we at least know how much. 

     Another problem frequently encountered in research articles is an undue stress on the significance of the correlation, either in claiming causation or implying it.  Even if these concerns are addressed, authors often leave undiscussed the direction of the correlation.   In this case, while reading the article (I find it informative generally to read the article and ignore the abstract as not enough researchers write useful abstracts), I kept wondering if these irrational beliefs could not be a product of illness rather than vice versa, especially in light of my reading of some of the tables.  The authors, however, conclude the discussion by stating that "...illness proved to be a better predictor of irrational beliefs than beliefs were for them."  (161) 

     Perhaps the only shortcomings of the study are the sample size and a suspicion that it may not be representative.  They were "selected from two midwestern communities."  The population within the sample was representative.  In other words, variables such as gender, age, income level, etc. were considered. (158)  The question is whether the restrictive location (midwestern, size of community not specified), and size (122) is sufficient to justify generalization to the population at large.  There are statistical techniques available to adjust for these factors, but no mention of them in the article.  The authors do state, however, that the results were "statistically significant" (157) so I assume they were applied.

  While the conclusions reached were very carefully stated, the data will be supportive of some of Ellis's claims.  In the distant future, it is difficult to predict, but the article does serve as a useful example of careful research.

Implications for the Field:

     Although few studies have been done exploring the relationship between irrational beliefs and illness, those that exist support a significant relationship.  This relationship makes this study and others important not only to counselors but to physicians in general and supports a holistic approach towards both physical and mental health.  The relationship between the two is strong enough not to be ignored.