Autism Is A Growing Epidemic - 1982 Words

An epidemic affects many people at the same time, and spreads from person to person in a locality where the disease is not permanently prevalent. Because the autism diagnosis charts are raising every year, autism is considered a growing epidemic in the United States. For many years humanity has pondered the origin of autism. Autism originated from the greek word autos, meaning â€Å"self†. Many say that individuals with autism think to themselves, or is in their â€Å"own world†. This describes an autistic person s actions, implicating that the individual is detached from civil communication. Autism was not given its label until the early 1900’s. Around 11 years later, a swiss psychiatrist named Eugen Bleuler, diagnosed a body using this†¦show more content†¦They tried painful remedies like the electric shock. This meant that the patient had electrodes placed on their head and was shocked. Doctors believed that this would â€Å"shock† the patients autism away. Another so called treatment for autism was lysergic acid diethylamide, otherwise know as LSD. LSD is a hallucinogenic drug. Hallucinogenic drugs change the way you sense the world around you. LSD is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. Doctors thought that LSD would treat autism because of its psychotomimetic effects. A decade later, researchers found that therapies would be the most beneficial to autistic patients. The most common, however, was the behavioral therapy. This focused on helping change unwanted behavior. It is also called cognitive behavioral therapy or behavioral modification. Doctors and therapists use this type of therapy to replace bad habits with good ones. The therapy also helps you cope with difficult situations. In todays society, the most useful â€Å"cure† for autism is behavioral therapy and language therapy. As I noted above, behavioral therapy helps replace bad habits. Language therapy helps the patient speak and understand how to communicate with others. There are many symptoms in which an autistic person has. The first, and most common, is the inability to comfortably speak to other human beings. Everyday, you have a conversation effortlessly with another person. Individuals diagnosed