“A recent Tel Aviv University study found that pressure chamber therapy greatly improved social skills and the condition of the autistic brain. The research was carried out on autism animal models. The researchers discovered changes in the brain, including a decrease in neuroinflammation, which has been linked to autism. Furthermore, the social functioning of the animal models treated in the pressure chamber improved significantly. The success of the research has significant implications for the applicability and understanding of pressure chamber therapy as a treatment for autism.”

Now we just have to convince people with Autism that they have to change who they are to fit in with society be we are intolerant. I get it for debilitating levels of Autism but beyond that, I don't see it being taken up.

This proves that autism isn't just rewiring, it's physical damage from an outside source.

My ex's kid is mildy to moderately autistic, he wound up that way because he didn't get enough oxygen in the womb because of his umbilical cord. This treatment would give him a normal life.

He'd be able to fully understand emotions. He'd be able to have a normal balanced meal instead of bland starches like white bread, he wouldn't need headphones to minimize auditory sensations.

meh i'll try it.

I think it depends what exactly it does. Like I doubt it would just make an autistic person neurotypical. But if it helps them learn social skills, then I think it's an excellent option for ppl to decide if they'd like that or not. Even for ppl without severe autism, it can be sad and frustrating not fully understanding how to socialize with other ppl.

Would this benefit anyone? Lower inflammation and more oxygen to the brain sounds like a benefit to everyone

You realise some people with autism suffer from the condition, yes?

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Is this something that would provide a long term improvement, or would you have continue doing it regularly? It's not the most accessible of treatments. Probably expensive, too.

Fuck you assholes downvoting him and fuck your “cures”.

Autism is far more widespread than the severe edge cases you get so worked up about. If you were ever successful in “curing” it I doubt humanity would last another generation.

You want to know what advice I’d give a young autistic person? It wouldn’t be “social skills” or how to mask better.

It would be: “It’s not your fault they live like this.”

Speak for yourself lol. You can fuck right off with your dumb suggestion that they should spend grant money elsewhere only because YOU wouldn’t want it cured or treated. Why do people on Reddit have such a problem with not knowing how to speak for themselves.

As another autistic person, I want to try it! Come on, man! Hyperbaric pressure chamber with increased oxygen? That's some sci-fi shit right there.

It's not going to be permanent, either, so even though I too don't want to stop being me, I don't think this will do that. I'm happy to try it first so you can see what happens.

Yes Oxygen chambers can help anyone.

Ah, so it's just a variant of sociopathy?

Edit: It was a joke, albeit a bit distasteful.

I think it just proves that autism isn't one thing. It is a name for a bunch of completely different conditions and brains.

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Myo-Inositol trispyrophosphate does this without the need for a pressure chamber.

The problem with understanding what this means is that current understanding of autism and how to limit the conditions makes the term autism unusable. It is certainly a group of very different conditions that we call autism. And the fact that one of the major indications of autism is not being completely oblivious to the world should tell us that the current view of the autistic condition is severely flawed. Is everyone who is not completely oblivious to the world around them and everyone who has some moral reasoning autistic? Is that really what we want to point out as a condition to treat?

I fact that hyperbaric oxygen therapy is an approved treatment in some really interesting cases has me intrigued. I bet we keep getting studies from these groups on more and more conditions - including effects of otherwise completely nominal humans.

Which is why I said:

>I get it for debilitating levels of Autism

As long as it is a choice for the person affected without any pressure. A lot of people with autism are happy with their life, they just struggle with intolerance from neurotypical colleagues. I'm not advocating stopping this, I'm saying don't push it on people if they don't want it.

Just reading through the so-so written article, it seems it would only help autistics with neuroinflammation. My questions is how does an autistic person know if they would even be a candidate for this? And what about certain types of Longhaul COVID? Seems that might be a candidate, too.

Fair point. I will never not take the time to say that I've found individuals on the autism spectrum to be incredibly fun to talk with. They're fair, honest and funny. They don't need treatment as far as I can tell.

I'm not on the spectrum.

Though one point I'd like to raise with autistic individuals is that they should consider not saying they're autistic.

yes I think it‘ll still be 100% you, just without some of the burdens autism brings

I wouldn't call that, because at least in his case, he could barely stomach normal food, relying on ensures white bread and a hotdog.

no one got worked up about anything

There's way too much truth to this lol

Hmm I was the same as a kid. Doctor said "definitely not aspberger's, but a bit late on the social skills".

he's 15 now and still the same. maybe you're on the spectrum. get tested

They didn't want to do it since it doesn't seem to pose any difficulties for me now.

Now I eat almost everything, am comfortable with holding speeches in front of people and such. Feeling empathy is a bit hard at times though. Especially with difficult people.

baseless speculation, this doesn’t “prove” anything nor does it promise to give someone a “normal” life

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You do realise we few autism more than a way of being, mostly because we it just is.. than a impairment or disease…

Well, some of us do..

Yet again that doesn’t sound harmful, and if that girl feels better and more happy, Maybe there’s something to it…

What’s that?

All of you here seem normal AF to me from what I can gather from your comments. I'll never understand this "Autism" label given to people. I 1st noticed the heavy talk about Autistic people in the mid 2000's and never saw it as anything but people who were "socially awkward", shy or reserved. Whatever that means...

Elon is said to be Autistic, I don't see it. Who the fuck is coming up with these labels/terms/words?? I think if I was around a Autistic people I wouldn't even be able to tell.

I don’t understand what autism would have to do with moral or ethical reasoning? Morality is set by cultural norms, and ethics are mostly debated based on reason and emotion.

It’s the “risk vs reward” analysis. Do you want a treatment that MIGHT cure SOME autistic people, or do you want treatments that have proven results helping (but not curing) most autistic people?

The idea that autism needs a cure is kinda shit, too. The deficiencies that are part and parcel of autism for most of us could easily be treated without making it about curing the underlying autism.

It is like someone saying they have a cure for transgenderism; there’s a lot of issues that make being trans a terrible experience, and a lot of them are internal to the person experiencing it. But it’s a valid way to human, and treatment for transgender individuals is dealing with the issues, not trying to cure the transgenderism.

I am an autistic person with autistic kids. Unfortunately? I HAVE to teach them to mask. Survival skills, my friend.

I love the people they are and the people they will become, but I know they will have to live in a world that views the way they are as disabled, and they will have to function within that world.

Autism also puts a burden on other individuals, especially if the affected person can’t work to support themself due to their condition. So a cure would benefit everyone.

Why should they not say they’re autistic? I’m just curious about the logic there. Personally I don’t share it unless it comes up, but I don’t hide it either.

Well, if you define autism so that everyone that cares about anything are autists then the rest follow.s You can't have any ethics if you are absolutely oblivious to everything around you.

Now, I am not claiming that non-autists are immoral or in any way less moral than autists. On the contrary I am suggesting that a definition of autism that leas to this conclusion probably is not great.

>Is everyone who is not completely oblivious to the world around them and everyone who has some moral reasoning autistic?

wtf are you talking about? nobody but you think this.

Evidence for this?

i don't think they're suggesting or demanding that all autists are should be forced into pressure chambers...

why are you jumping to the conclusion that all people with autism will soon be forced against their will into pressure chambers?

maybe do a little research about what the autism spectrum is before opening your mouth next time?

>I'm saying don't push it on people if they don't want it.

who is saying or suggesting that? why are you leaping to conclusions about some sort of forced "cure?"

almost like there's a spectrum...

given your "joke", you never really quite developed those skills, dude.

Because it puts both parties at an uneven level. The, say, neurotipical individual* feels the sense to treat the autistic individual as "different". And the autistic person almost gets a carte blanche to do, in a sense whatever s/he may want. "Oh, well, s/he's autistic. I would never accept this behaviour de any other person", vs "I can be as quirky as I want, I said I was autistic ¯⁠\⁠⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠⁠/⁠¯"

If the subject comes up, sure, say it. If it is necessary, sure, why not. But for daily interactions? That's like me going around telling any person I meet, "oh, by the way, I'm a man". I mean, it's a fact; but it's not particularly relevant information when meeting someone.

What I'm trying to say is this: from my experience there is nothing wrong about the artistic people I've met. They tend to be slightly different in approach but that's not a problem to me as I adjust my personality to the person I'm interacting whilst staying myself. (I'm not going to talk to a mate the way I talk to someone I'm trying to have sex with. Basic example to prove a point.)

*The neurotipical individual may not even notice or find anything to be strange about the autistic person. Basically "you"'re saying: treat me different.".

30 seconds of research on what the substance does, on your part.

I don't need to spoon feed you, I'm not your mother.

I really dislike you. You are a very bad person.

There is a difference between spectrum and completely different things. Now, this is known and well-established. I mean, the people who created the current definition of autism are well aware of this definition being a failure, it is just that we can't do better with the current level of understanding.

No one but me has read the definition of autism and the questionnaires used to define autism! That is a not a reasonable claim.

Having interests on any meaningful level is counted as a symptom for autism.

As someone with Asperger‘s I find most of this common section disgusting and out of touch

If you don’t have a doctor diagnosed form of autism or are a parent of a severely autistic child, you have no right to post here

Did I ever claim that?

I said I can hold speeches given the circumstance, not that I want to please everybody.

Except… it doesn’t? The study would need to be replicated to merely strongly suggest that the proposed procedure would ameliorate social deficits. No further inferences may be made beyond the scope of the study. It simply suggests that these chambers may treat one negative facet of autism, nothing more. It may provide a potential research direction, but it has been repeatedly shown that autism - like many areas of neurodivergence - is highly polymorphic in cause, manifestation, and other characteristics. I’d go further and say the study doesn’t even suggest brain damage, if I’m being honest. That would have to be studied on its own.

I’d tend to agree here, if I’m being honest. I was one of those highly downvoted comments further up, and got my throat jumped on. I really don’t understand why this post even belongs here, let alone why so many people outside of the community have come out of the woodwork to talk about it.

This thread is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I pulled my comment because I was tired of getting a litany of notifications about this godforsaken thread, nor did I want to give anyone here the opportunity to argue further. Better to just let this thread flounder and die with less engagement, so we can get back to the fun parts of this sub.

Edit: Jesus Christ people

The thing is, I was actually treated for my social deficits when I was very young. It worked very well, and - according to my parents - was not very expensive, either. It is well-understood that altered mTOR function in autism results in heightened synaptic plasticity, which may make autistic brains more receptive to more direct, psychology-based treatments for social deficits. It appears so in my case, but I - of course - am not a double-blind, placebo controlled study, so I’ll leave that to the researchers with better-placed grant money to examine.

I do also happen to be trans, too

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/hcp-dsm.html please read this article about the requirements for asd. It is not having interests on a meaningful level. It is having a highly restricted fixation on narrow interests. Which is also only one of several requirements across multiple areas of life.

Nah, sensory deprivation chambers are cooler imo

Also, I think your second point falls outside the scope of the research. That wasn’t established, at least according to the abstract.

Agreeable-Time, would love to know your thoughts on the treatment. Would you / do you feel like you would want some kind of treatment? What about this treatment?

From my limited understanding of the causes of depression, this could have an impact on some forms of that as well.

> the current definition of autism

what do you think that is? where are you looking for the definition? how is it a failure? what should the definition be?

> Having interests on any meaningful level is counted as a symptom for autism.

sorry, but you're clearly delusional.

I'm an Asperger. Sign me up for it!

You’re not their mother, but the burden of proof still rests on you.

It’s depressing isn’t that so many people find it acceptable to talk about something they don’t live every day. It’s a totally lack of empathy and frankly a perfect encapsulation to the reason I never use Reddit the majority of people here are dog water. We get treated like shit. It’s hate speech disguised as a concern

Speaking for myself, I already got treatment in the form of social training when I was young. Simple, even less invasive, and based soundly on the principle of neuroplasticity. Has enduring effects, while the persistent effects of this approach are unclear. Many - but not all - autists who object to the notion of “treatment” are generally strongly against the treatment of the core characteristics (“symptoms”) of autism, and the implicit pathologicalization of it; frequently, those speaking of treatment refer mainly/only to social difficulties, and sometimes sensory overwhelm, but almost never the more integral parts of the autistic mind. That’s what I either failed to fully communicate or the repliers failed to understand in my now-deleted downvoted comments earlier in the thread. This issue is also an emotionally charged one for many of us, which one can perhaps see in the significant engagement with that comment and others very similar to it in this thread.

Honestly, a lot of us would rather this post just go away. Aside from your comment and a handful of others, this thread has devolved into a cesspool, of which I evidently played a role. This discussion is better reserved for another forum, but I digress. Sorry for deviating from your question.

You’d think r/singularity of all places would be home to more people like us lol

But yeah, the sheer amount of.. everything is disturbing. Bad faith arguing, baseless conjecture, drawing broad conclusions from novel research, failing to authentically engage with objections to the framing of the research itself (couched in the broad terms of a “cure” rather than the much better framing of a “treatment for distressing social deficits”). I really hate this place (Reddit as a whole, I mean).

I really appreciate you ask if like to say first. But to answer you, me personally I’m happy with who I am and don’t like the wording of “treatment” like something is wrong with me. I can’t speak for everyone especially since autism is such a vague term nowadays that different peoples situations can not be grouped up under that term. These things are very complicated and my opinion is just that

I yet still have hope!

The burden of proof is on the person making the claim. I don’t need to do anything; I didn’t make the claim.

Yeah we are in the minority so as it has been with every other group in history we get bullied by the majority. People haven’t changed they just start hating people who can hardly defend them selfs. But yeah people fail to realize autism spectrum is a bogus term made recently by a bunch of elitist psychologist and you know they have such a great track record with that sort of thing

This sounds like an oversimplified therapy. I'm sure this treatment would have an effect on anyone. It's simply increasing oxygen and blood flow.

As a person with autism, I think there is much more merit in the idea of a GABA imbalance in the brain. There are studies showing a deficit of GABA in autistic people. I think that's why certain drugs like alcohol, in moderation, can make autistic people more normal instead of drunk.

I dont think it is possible today to make a much better definition. They recently scrapped the old, more variation rich definition because it lacked support. That was probably the right thing to do. But the new one is so broad that it is bordering on the meaningless. Everyone knows. I dont think they made a bad job, it is just not well understood.

​

Edit: I am mostly talking about DSM5 vs DSM4.

Yeah, I know. My point is that people who lack an interest that fits that discription are all rather meaningless creatures without any stake. As born out by reality.

Some time ago I read another study from Israel where they rejuvenated people using oxygen chambers. I'm starting to think they are just manufacturers and this is snake oil.

So what if you live in a place that are well above sea level and rich in oxygen? Does that improve brain functions?

I’ve never seen anyone define autism that way. Being “unusual” and willing to question society’s standards isn’t inherently autistic (this is how I am too).

Autism is a developmental disorder that gives people sensory issues, an absence of social skills, and a childlike personality, along with digestive issues, eating struggles, and a host of other symptoms that negatively affect quality of life. It causes suffering so it needs a cure.

Also it’s possible to be immoral without being unethical, and vice versa. Morality is that which upholds the existing social order (which is not always ethical).

How about sensory deprivation hyperbaric pure oxygen (in a mask, I like not burning to death) chamber? All the things!

Yeah, it not being permanent is a guess on my part, based on nothing more than it reducing inflammation. Something's causing that inflammation, it'll kick back in when conditions go back to normal.

Fuck you for the classic “.. ANIMAL models”. Clickbaiting is so detrimental to science and it’s reporting. Shame on you!

These are just preliminary tests, I'm sure human testing will happen in the near future due to the success of this study

So would scuba diving for prolong stints at a certain depth be comparable?

If we changed your mental state we could make you super productive and useful to society. None of those personal interests to get in the way of your contribution. Probably get rid of those interfering emotions too. We can fix you up. You good for that or do you want a say in the matter?