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What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

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Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#71

Post by tgflynn »

endymi0n wrote: post #53

If a simple coil is able to do this to the brain, how come the many Teslas of a superconducting MRI magnet don't do zip? Genuinely interested...

The 1 T+ field your thinking of is a static magnetic field. Static magnetic fields don't induce currents (except in rapidly moving objects) and have no known effects on the brain or biology (at least for the field strengths available for MRI, really extreme magnetic fields might cause such effects).

MRI machines also use much smaller modulated magnetic fields during a scan. It's conceivable these could have TMS like effects but as far as I know they don't in practice. I imagine TMS uses fields which are stronger than these since I believe the excitation coils are placed in very close proximity to the head.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#72

Post by AlgorithmicTime »

tehwalrus wrote: post #61

Some people have argued [1] that it was not his autism, but his alexithymia which was altered by the TMS. Alexithymia is an orthogonal condition: it can occur with or without autism. Believing that a "cure" for autism is required is also a rejection of neuro-atypicality as a valid state of being, which is a common form of subconscious Ablism (discrimination against disabled people). That is not to say that no autisti…

I'm going to come out and say that this is no different than a person born without arms claiming that they're not disabled, that they're not damaged.

To claim we shouldn't cure autism because doing so would "reject neuro-atypicality as a valid state of being" (a typical non-statement) is as absurd as saying we shouldn't grow people new limbs (assuming we had the capability) because it's a rejection of amputeeism as a valid state of being.

In a perfect world, autistic children would be found extremely young and cured before they suffered any real harm from their condition.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#73

Post by pbhjpbhj »

tehwalrus wrote: post #65
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Believing that a "cure" for autism is required is also a rejection of neuro-atypicality as a valid state of being // Do you mean to say "believing that if a cure is found that it should be forced on people"? I liken the position to ocular or aural implants (like cochlear ear implants) - I'd say certainly a cure is required [by many people] but once found we shouldn't then force it on people. Which I think is what yo…

Apart from using "cure" to describe it, we agree.

OK, thanks for the elucidation.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#74

Post by restalis »

agumonkey wrote: post #7

I wonder how sexual development happens in autism. In terms of emotional connection it's a pretty central and strong source.

Yes, emotional awareness is a useful tool that an autistic person lacks. Without it the entire social game gets very confusing - you have less direction, you don't really sense when to stop and when to go on, when to switch behavior to a more productive one and in general it is like an impairment you notice you have especially next to "normal" others. That however, becomes a non-problem when the social interaction happens takes place between autistic people.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#75

Post by markhahn »

endymi0n wrote: post #53

If a simple coil is able to do this to the brain, how come the many Teslas of a superconducting MRI magnet don't do zip? Genuinely interested...

the big field of an MRI scanner is static and very uniform (there is also an RF field during scanning, but it's smaller). TCMS is very dynamic and tight.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#76

Post by restalis »

agumonkey wrote: post #58
anigbrowl wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a broad question doesn't admit of an easy answer, but if I was going to put in a single sentence I'd say dating was hell but sex is fine. No idea whether autistic people are more or less prone to be into kinky sex but my hunch is more.

What about simpler affectionate interactions ? dating and sex were already way beyond what I had in mind. Autism impossibility of emotional interaction would be at odds with simple hugging. And in my view, hugging is a prototype of sexual relationship (pure pleasure sex left of the discussion).

Hugging has two distinct sides - emotional and sensorial. It feels kind of futile to do it for emotional reason (you do it just to please the other side, maybe) but it still feels good for sensorial one. It's like hugging a pleasant animal.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#77

Post by lallysingh »

junko wrote: post #67
k__ wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I knew a few lightly autistic people who also aren't exceptionally good at anything. Some are better than average programmers or something. But their autism is a greater burden than their increased skills are a help in their life. It's not that they just sit at home all day, avoiding people and creating awesome stuff en masse. Most of the suffer from their inability to interact socially.

But that burden can be lightened. I wonder why local groups along the lines of 'Autistic Anonymous' don't exist, or even if they do, aren't widespread enough as there is a significant minority of the population who are autistic. I'm talking about those who are in the 'higher' spectrum of course, though by no means the group should turn into genius club or something. I agree, autistic people can also be average-skille…

That's a really good idea.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#78

Post by slv77 »

proksoup wrote: post #9
philovivero wrote: post #4

I'm glad this guy wrote this up. Now I have no desire to get off the spectrum.

I had a (medication induced) experience similar to the author's, with similar perception of radical changes in the motivations/intentions of my coworkers and friends, but mostly I remember it being like bright light was turned on in a dim room, my new awareness of others emotions changed a lot of my assumptions about their thoughts, the effects lasted a few days. I'd rather be more in tune with reality, if new techno…

TMG had a similar effect on me after taking it for three months. The effect was repeatable for others in my extended family.

The effect initially was a very intense feeling of being connected with everyone. The intensity faded over time but the effect still remains. For example I actually enjoy small talk.

After some reaearch I believe that TMG facilitates the breakdown of tonic dopamine (background dopamine outside of neurons) and high levels of tonic dopamine relative to tonic serotonin suppress the release of oxytocin.

LSD is serotogentic and may work in a similar way by stimulating serotonin receptors and simulating raising the level of tonic serotonin vs dopamine.

Oddly people on SSRIs complain about reduced empathy as a side effect so there may be a U shaped curve or something else going on.

Re: What It’s Like to ‘Wake Up’ from Autism After Magnetic Stimulation

#79

Post by restalis »

agumonkey wrote: post #10
adammunich wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

stressfully

It's a life altering 'change' in one's brain (at least it can be) and I very strongly believe that for people with socio-affective issues it has some relevance. Not talking about mechanics here of course, but a mean to interact / relate with someone emotional state.

"for people with socio-affective issues it has some relevance"

It may. It would enlarge the amount of things we use to relate to when we're communicating but it's not essential for a natural-perceived relation. The mechanics may be all what's necessary. From what I've noticed, all that non-autistic persons are really interested in this regard is the belief that the other person is emotionally-empathetic, and that interest can (more or less) be catered for.

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