Live data from Hacker News

A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

thedailybeast.com

11–20 of 57 posts

Re: A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

#11
post #10
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm autistic and I'd rather people call me what I am than have to deal with pretentious, SJW-inspired nonsense like this.

Person-first terminology has been under debate since the 1990s[1][2]. The consensus among professionals (I just now spoke with a clinical psychologist Ph.D student who specializes in ASD research) is to use "individual with ASD/autism". Academia disagrees with you[3]. To be clear, if you would like to be referred to as an "autistic person", no one should have a problem with that. Similarly, you should not have a prob…

This just sounds like another example of the euphemism treadmill.[0]

Here's an interesting article from 5 years ago about a NYC agency with "retarded" in the name which refused to remove the word [1]

The answer isn't as cut and dried as "professionals say so."

[0]http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Euphemism#Euphemism_treadmill

[1]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/nyregion/08name.html?_r=0

Re: A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

#12
post #10
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm autistic and I'd rather people call me what I am than have to deal with pretentious, SJW-inspired nonsense like this.

Person-first terminology has been under debate since the 1990s[1][2]. The consensus among professionals (I just now spoke with a clinical psychologist Ph.D student who specializes in ASD research) is to use "individual with ASD/autism". Academia disagrees with you[3]. To be clear, if you would like to be referred to as an "autistic person", no one should have a problem with that. Similarly, you should not have a prob…

I'm not trying to make a value judgement, but isn't this sort of counter to how English is typically spoken? Adjectives usually come before the subject, for instance, one would say "look at that red car" and not... well I don't even really know how to organically word it any other way... "look at that car which is red" I guess. The latter sentence sounds very awkward to me.

Re: A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

#13
post #9

I was under the impression that it is quite neurotoxic. Wikipedia seems to be backing me up here. Is this not the case?

I took a fair amount of the stuff back in the 1980s -- at one point I estimated my cumulative total consumption as around 15 grams. (I'm sure there are people far beyond that now.) It is definitely neurotoxic -- I could tell that the first time I took it -- but in my experience, the noticeable effects are temporary, being mostly gone in a couple of weeks and quite undetectable after a couple of months. As a software…

[deleted]

Re: A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

#14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Person-first terminology has been under debate since the 1990s[1][2]. The consensus among professionals (I just now spoke with a clinical psychologist Ph.D student who specializes in ASD research) is to use "individual with ASD/autism". Academia disagrees with you[3]. To be clear, if you would like to be referred to as an "autistic person", no one should have a problem with that. Similarly, you should not have a prob…

I'm not trying to make a value judgement, but isn't this sort of counter to how English is typically spoken? Adjectives usually come before the subject, for instance, one would say "look at that red car" and not... well I don't even really know how to organically word it any other way... "look at that car which is red" I guess. The latter sentence sounds very awkward to me.

Indeed you are right. "Sally is a person with autism" is admittedly a mouthful and seems counterintuitive.

The difference between Sally and the car is that the car is an object, and Sally is a human being whose neurological differences are often stigmatized.

Re: A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

#15
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Person-first terminology has been under debate since the 1990s[1][2]. The consensus among professionals (I just now spoke with a clinical psychologist Ph.D student who specializes in ASD research) is to use "individual with ASD/autism". Academia disagrees with you[3]. To be clear, if you would like to be referred to as an "autistic person", no one should have a problem with that. Similarly, you should not have a prob…

This just sounds like another example of the euphemism treadmill.[0] Here's an interesting article from 5 years ago about a NYC agency with "retarded" in the name which refused to remove the word [1] The answer isn't as cut and dried as "professionals say so." [0] http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Euphemism#Euphemism_treadmill [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/nyregion/08name.html?_r=0

I believe that the acceptance of neurodiversity will — over a long period of time — phase out the very idea of ASD. In that sense, I see the similarities between the language debate going on here and the debate of "idiot", "moron", etc.

My point was not to make an argument that blindly follows known authority, but to let it be known that research finds that the majority of people prefer (consciously and subconsciously) person-first terminology.

Re: A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

#16
post #10
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm autistic and I'd rather people call me what I am than have to deal with pretentious, SJW-inspired nonsense like this.

Person-first terminology has been under debate since the 1990s[1][2]. The consensus among professionals (I just now spoke with a clinical psychologist Ph.D student who specializes in ASD research) is to use "individual with ASD/autism". Academia disagrees with you[3]. To be clear, if you would like to be referred to as an "autistic person", no one should have a problem with that. Similarly, you should not have a prob…

"The consensus among professionals...Academia..."

I like the part where you have the gall to lecture people about what they themselves want to be called, using appeals to authority figures who are not themselves Autistic.

"Similarly, you should not have a problem with the majority of people with autism preferring "person with autism"

Except that the majority of Autistic people prefer being called Autistic people, rather than having an integral part of their personality and neurology erased or medicalized. The vast majority of people using the "with autism" phraseology see it as a separate, undesirable thing -- often parents looking to "cure" their children.

http://autisticadvocacy.org/home/about-asan/identity-first-l... http://yesthattoo.blogspot.com/p/dont-call-me-person-with-au...

I don't refer to myself as "someone with femaleness" and if I did, it would be implying that being female is an element of myself that could be, perhaps should be, removable from the core me. We don't refer to "people with homosexuality" unless you're a super-conservative church claiming that there's no such thing as a gay person, just a person with a thing to "cure" or overcome. Language matters.

Re: A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

#17
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Person-first terminology has been under debate since the 1990s[1][2]. The consensus among professionals (I just now spoke with a clinical psychologist Ph.D student who specializes in ASD research) is to use "individual with ASD/autism". Academia disagrees with you[3]. To be clear, if you would like to be referred to as an "autistic person", no one should have a problem with that. Similarly, you should not have a prob…

I'm not trying to make a value judgement, but isn't this sort of counter to how English is typically spoken? Adjectives usually come before the subject, for instance, one would say "look at that red car" and not... well I don't even really know how to organically word it any other way... "look at that car which is red" I guess. The latter sentence sounds very awkward to me.

The intention is to stop neurological conditions being adjectives. 'look that car has a sunroof' for example is much more natural than 'look at that sunroofed car'.

Re: A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

#18
I can say, hands down, MDMA cured me from all and any social anxiety, it showed me that no-one gives a fuck, everybody is just the same and wants to be heard.

Its so funny, every time links like this gets posted I just nod and think "Poor bastards, they haven't figured it out yet?"

It's been 8 years since I did MDMA, so far no negatives as far as I can tell. Obviously, as with any strong drug/psychedelic, you will be a different person after the trip, what you take from that, is up to you. It is not for everybody, and especially if you feel you are prone to something like schizophrenia do NOT do psychedelics.

Re: A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

#19
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Person-first terminology has been under debate since the 1990s[1][2]. The consensus among professionals (I just now spoke with a clinical psychologist Ph.D student who specializes in ASD research) is to use "individual with ASD/autism". Academia disagrees with you[3]. To be clear, if you would like to be referred to as an "autistic person", no one should have a problem with that. Similarly, you should not have a prob…

"The consensus among professionals...Academia..." I like the part where you have the gall to lecture people about what they themselves want to be called, using appeals to authority figures who are not themselves Autistic. "Similarly, you should not have a problem with the majority of people with autism preferring "person with autism" Except that the majority of Autistic people prefer being called Autistic people , ra…

I don't know much about this and found your links interesting. Do you know if there have been any surveys of preference?

Re: A new study urges trials of MDMA to treat anxiety in autistic adults

#20
It's exciting because it's such an intuitive hypothesis.

People on the spectrum often have trouble reading emotions, people that use empathogens often feel enhanced abilities for similar tasks.

Who knows if it will pan out, but it would change many directions in research.

Post reply on HN