Aspergers linkage to brain defects and hormones

Possible Aspergers cause due to brain conditions and/or hormones

In researching the underlying cause of Aspergers there are some notes below which summarize the current understanding of how the disorder develops. There does appear to be an inherited genetic link. The points below are theories and hypothesis, not concrete findings. I am still investigating further and acquiring other theories.

See also the section on Relationships for more discussion, and also the page on hormones.

Cerebellum - ref Scientific American, August 2003, Rethinking the Lesser Brain by James M Bower and Lawrence M Parsons, pages 40 - 47. The function of the cerebellum is not well understood by science. It appears to be involved in decision making involving movement. We are able to function without a cerebellum, but the author notes that a faulty cerebellum would be more detrimental than complete removal, and could result in some of autistic traits as information would not be correctly relayed to other regions of the brain.
Interbrain communication - another view is that during the development of the brain neurons, the brains of Aspergers did not develop as many inter-neuron links as a "normal" person. This means that Aspergers are able to concentrate on certain tasks and single-mindedly focus attention, but have difficulty processing multiple sensory inputs or making decisions or performing actions that require many parts of the brain to be active at once. Social situations require the latter. Dancing in a crowded and noisy bar trying to focus on the voice of the person opposite whilst filtering out the band, avoiding bumping in to others, and at the same time performing complicated body movements - impossible.
Amygdala - this is a part of the brain involved in emotions and memory responses. In his famous book on Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ), Danile Goleman explains how this works. Certain images are embedded in the Amygdala causing automatic responses in certain situations bypassing the rational thinking brain (frontal lobe). This explains how people can suddenly "snap" in certain situations, the examples cited in the book are teenage boys who go on a shooting spree after breaking up with their girlfriend. It also seems that during early life, facial expressions of the parents are programmed by the Amygdala based on emotional responses that occurred at the time - so the child learns love, anger, fear, happiness, and these become hard-wired at a sub-conscious level (subconscious being in the emotional brain, not the thinking rational brain). In Aspergers, something seems to be wrong with this mechanism.
Serotonin - autistic people may have higher levels of serotonin than ordinary people. It is known that low levels of Serotonin results in depression and other disorders. Anti-depressant pills help to restore serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin is manufactured in the gut, and many autistic people have gluten intolerance and other gut sensitivities. It certainly appears that those on the autistic spectrum are highly sensitive to changes in serotonin.
Oxytocin - in conjunction with Vasopressin, Oxytocin is known as the love or bonding hormone. It appears to play an important role in social bonding. It may be that autistic people have low levels of Oxytocin. Some studies indicate that in autistic people the vasopressin receptors are at low concentrations or absent from those parts of the brain that would result in social behaviour conditioning. On this theory, "normal" people are conditioned to enjoy social behaviour - Aspergers people simply view all situations equally.

Awareness

It should be noted that the Aspie has greater freedom than the Neuro-Typical. By this, I mean that the NT enjoys the comfort and acceptance of a social society due to a pre-programmed emotional response system. This happens below the conscious awareness of the NT. They don't need to expend any conscious energy when interacting with other people, and generally this works well. The Aspie is exposed to a wider range of physiological functions at the conscious level, and many of the pre-programmed emotional response mechanisms don't work. This is both a curse and a blessing. Where the emotional response mechanisms function below conscious awareness, the NT becomes entrapped by them - and hence experiences love, grief, jealousy, fear and other emotions. When exposed to these situations the Aspie experiences the emotions consciously, and hence does not react in the standard "NT" way to the emotion and therefore NT's do not always recognise that the Aspie is experiencing the emotion. In some cases the Aspie experiences the emotion much more deeply or vividly. As the Aspie experiences these emotions at the conscious level, they can learn how to react to them - they can be taught; some learn themselves. However, it doesn't seem possible to learn how to mimic the pre-programmed NT emotional responses, especially for complex social emotional interaction such as love. That is the price the Aspie pays for the greater conscious awareness of the bodies physiological functioning.

Kundalini Awakening at Birth

One of the puzzling things about Autism is that the brain appears normal, and the condition is described as a development disorder. A very real possiblity for the origins of Autism, which do not yet appear to have been investigated in any depth, relates to an early Kundalini awakening. The Kundalini mechanism has been known to the Yogi's and mystics for many centuries, but largely ignored by science. Only recently has serious research gone into the mechanism, and I recommend Jana Dixon's website. The Kundalini energy isn't experienced by many people, and its traumatic side-affects can result in these people being labelled insane or going through a nervous breakdown (which can indeed happen).

In her book the Biology of Kundalini, Jana Dixon notes the similarity between Autism and some of the symptoms experienced during a Kundalini awakening. Now, when an adult experiences a Kundalini awakening in their 20's or 30's they can experience great physical, emotional and mental discomfort. In extreme cases they may need to drop out of work or society for a while to recover. It can lead to a spiritual awakening - and can also lead to spending time in a mental institution, or even death! Hormonal changes take place in the body, and this can have dramatic affects on daily life. Kundalini awakenings can be triggered by certain spiritual exercises and meditation (see section on Dangers), or by traumtic events in ones life such as death of a loved one, physical accident, etc.

Now, what is one of the most traumatic events each of us experiences in life?
Birth!
Birth is a very traumatic experience at a very young and tender age when we are least prepared. The body is flooded with chemicals (hormones) from the Mother to assist, but the stressful condition can last for hours and the body can be starved of oxygen. This is a condition far more extreme than most meditation practices.
Is it possible that birth could trigger a Kundalini awakening in a small percentage of the population? Like 0.5% of the population? Yes, it is certainly possible. The ramifications would vary greatly. Some babies may recover quickly, others could be scarred for life - it would depend on many factors including care by the parents immediately after birth.

I am not aware of any research into this interesting possibility for the cause of Autism. It would explain many tendencies of the Autistic, and in my opinion warrants further research.