Autism, ADHD, and Fad Diagnoses | Doug Wilson

several family members have come to believe that our youngest son age five has autism this is mainly because he was a late talker though he talks almost successfully now and seems well-adjusted socially Thomas Sowell and others have argued that autism is becoming something of a fad diagnosis and that the acht ISM spectrum allows many children to be diagnosed who probably shouldn't it kind of reminds me how every bouncy kid gets labeled as ADHD I've heard that some in the reform world believe that autism is a spiritual disease to disease to be dealt with by counseling not medical treatment for these and other reasons I'm reluctant to have them tested so here's my twofold question as Christians how should we think about autism and D how many thoughts on new thetic counseling let me start with the last question first I'm I'm an advocate of new thetac counseling I appreciate the pioneering work that J Adams did and and and I am I would describe my selling with and with pathetic counseling is geared off of verse in Romans where the Saints are competent to counsel one another which is the name of Adam's book and it and new fetta counseling basically you could summarize it by saying that in counseling people it's important not to leave out the sin issues and and so and and a corollary to that it's important not to have the counseling event become a vast exercise in helping the person who's receiving counseling escape responsibility for his actions so is that a counseling basically be wrong to say its confrontational its confrontational where it needs to be but you you are helping the person take responsibility for his own actions for his own choices for the life and you're doing this in the context of grounding at in scriptural teaching and and it look biblically based counseling so that's different it's counseling that's explicitly rooted in Scripture as opposed to what you might call thin veneer you know psychobabble with a thin veneer of Christian terms laid over the top is not something I'm a big fan of so that's what new thetac counseling yes now the having said that and identifying that I'm there and I'm an advocate of new static counseling I'm wary of every one-size-fits-all approach even even if you say you've got to help people take responsibility for their actions there are biological physiological reasons for some people's behaviors you know and you and you have to take that into account so new thetic counseling if it goes to seed thinks that you can fix every problem by tinkering with the soul right just just get down in there and confront the heart and confront the soul and and have them pray up you know that would that that's the ditch on that side of the road we are body soul and spirit all together our bodies affect our souls our souls affect our spirit our spirit affects the body again so there's nothing wrong i in my view there's nothing wrong or unbiblical by taking into account a possible physiological component to some disorders or some problems the point is that that doesn't excuse anything there's a hidden Pelagianism that that affects a lot of this the reason people are looking for a genetic basis for homosexuality is they think that if it's in my nature i and i can't help it then therefore i'm not responsible for it well that's that's Pelagianism pure and simple we already know that heterosexual temptation is something we can't help right heterosexual temptation has a genetic basis thirteen year old boy didn't ask for the testosterone bath that washes over him before all he was interested in is getting another paper route and all of a sudden it's girls girls girls that's genetic but why why do we assume that if there's a genetic basis for it that I'm not responsible for so that's that so much the counseling and responsibility and so forth the other factor in this is I'd like the term the question fad diagnosis yeah I was curious about that because it does seem like the fad diagnosis is something we see a lot of but what makes people want have an actual desire for it to turn out that they be sick with these disorders where where you're exaggerating the symptoms - well whether it's the whether it's a fad diagnosis of you know mild forms of autism or allergies or gluten intolerance or you know lactose and you know whatever whatever the fad diagnosis did you or is you get to talk with your friends about it it's the type of conversation you get to be the center of attention you get to be an object of sympathy people have been trained to rally around when you when you label a problem that you have bias an acceptable tagline so this is not to say if you remember the first part of my answer this is not to say that there's no such thing as autism but we have we have hundreds of thousands of people googling things up and self diagnosing things and and a generation ago you couldn't have found some you know who do you know that had gluten problems a generation ago and now every third person has you know I'd sorry I'm just not buying it and and that doesn't mean and we should we should first all any angry letters if I'm saying that people are getting copycat diagnoses you know it's cool to be lactose intolerant or it's cool to have a problem with this or that or the other thing that does not mean it does not follow from that that there is no such thing as a real lactose intolerance or a real allergy it's just we we just need to be I think more tough-minded about things like this and and not put things on a spectrum and say well I've got one point seven degrees of autism on a scale of 15 so how would you advise this particular family that where they've got people are telling them that their son might be autistic they don't see it how would you advise them well I would say if they've got a happy well-adjusted kid then don't go looking for answers when you don't have questions right if if you're labeling the bouncy kid or you know what would have what would have happened to Tom Sawyer if he'd gotten into the hands of the professional counselling establishment he was sitting there in class having a hard time paying attention the day went on and on and we give give things fancy medical names and we can't call it looking out the window syndrome I wish wish I was fishing syndrome I remember with agonizing clarity that kind of experience when I was a boy it's called being a boy and they're trying to civilize me and and now we we diagnose and that and we are we feel justified in doping them up we don't know how to discipline boys we don't know how to handle boys and so we hit them on the head with a chemical rock and oftentimes a quick and glib diagnosis justifies rushing in with pills rushing in with drugs and government schools that have drug free zone on the front on the front door and that same school has a full-time nurse and on the kids on ritalin half the half the kids on ritalin and a full-time employee administering drugs to the kids it's just a spectacular joke something has gone seriously cockeyed in this and then again not to say that there aren't genuine cases requiring judicious use of medication so number one I'd say if you don't think you've got a problem if you're happy with your family if it's not broke don't fix it if something comes up where you think you we really need we really ought to have this look at that I would do some research to find a biblically minded Christian doctor who who would be in sympathy with some of the concerns that you might have can you think of some questions that you might use to examine potential doctors to try to sort out where they are on the spectrum but this is somebody who's going to dope at the drop of a hat or this is somebody who shares your scopes ISM yeah one of the questions would be you know do you are you quick to prescribe or slow to prescribe medication you know are you an ad because there's a better living through chemistry school of thought are you an absolutist no under no circumstances will I never will I ever prescribe something I just leaned against a one-size-fits-all approach I think the purists who say you should never take medication for anything that would affect your soul well what about a migraine you know suppose you've got a spiritual problem snapping up the kids because you've got a headache is it a sin to take aspirin you

Channel: Canon Press

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Length: 9min 57sec (597 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 06 2011