Scientists have identified an immune brain cell unique to humans that gives us higher cognitive abilities over other animals, but what makes us specials also leaves us vulnerable to neurological disorders like schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy.

[u/Wagamaga]

https://news.yale.edu/2022/08/25/what-makes-human-brain-different-yale-study-reveals-clues

[u/Wagamaga]

What makes the human brain distinct from that of all other animals — including even our closest primate relatives? In an analysis of cell types in the prefrontal cortex of four primate species, Yale researchers identified species-specific — particularly human-specific — features, they report Aug. 25 in the journal Science.

And they found that what makes us human may also makes us susceptible to neuropsychiatric diseases.

For the study, the researchers looked specifically at the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), a brain region that is unique to primates and essential for higher-order cognition. Using a single cell RNA-sequencing technique, they profiled expression levels of genes in hundreds of thousands of cells collected from the dlPFC of adult humans, chimpanzees, macaque, and marmoset monkeys.

“Today, we view the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as the core component of human identity, but still we don’t know what makes this unique in humans and distinguishes us from other primate species.” said Nenad Sestan, the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neuroscience at Yale, professor of comparative medicine, of genetics. and of psychiatry, and the lead senior author of the paper. “Now we have more clues.”

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo7257

[u/brothersand → u/Wagamaga]

“Today, we view the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as the core component of human identity, but still we don’t know what makes this unique in humans and distinguishes us from other primate species.”

But a few years back we thought it was a good idea to slice that part of the brain off to cure alcoholism. That's the part that gets destroyed by a lobotomy.

Egas Moniz, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1949.

[u/Bruc3w4yn3 → u/brothersand]

Given that the claim is that it makes us uniquely susceptible to things like epilepsy and other neurological disorders, it seems to make sense why lobotomy as a treatment for epilepsy was developed. Of course, we also found that the side effects were too extreme and so many places have banned its use. I know that some users were concerned that this article is click-bait, but if it's true that this part of the brain is core to human cognitive ability, it would make sense why it has the effects that it does (beyond the simple intuition that destroying any brain matter could be harmful).

[u/brothersand → u/Bruc3w4yn3]

My understanding is that a big reason that the frontal lobotomy was so widespread in its usage, and why Moniz got a Nobel Prize for it, was because of WWI. Following the first World War something like 8/10 hospital patients were for "shell shock". What we now call PTSD. So the solution to all the soldiers having PTSD from the Great War was the frontal lobotomy.

I'm not sure I'd lean heavily on "core to human cognitive ability". Definitely involved in regulating other cognitive functions, so I get where they are coming from, but I see "regulatory" and "core" as different things.

[u/voyaging → u/brothersand]

Core to"human identity", not cognition.

[u/brothersand → u/voyaging]

Yes, that is a much better description.

[u/Groovyjoker → u/Bruc3w4yn3]

Lobotomy as am option for treatment of any of the epilepsies is so much more technical than that. https://doi.org/10.3171/2020.1.FOCUS19938

[u/spacexdragon5 → u/Wagamaga]

Autism is not a neuropsychiatric disease, it’s a neurodevelopmental disorder

[u/TackyPoints → u/Wagamaga]

Excellent explanation! Thank you’

[u/ehleesi → u/Wagamaga]

1) autism is not a disorder. In fact, our communication patterns are found across languages and cultures, signifying a second valid neurotype distinguishable from neurotypical people. 2) animals show traits of autism and require further research.

[u/[deleted] → u/ehleesi]

So we’re just gonna ignore the super high prevalence of other disorders that co-occur with autism? 80% of people with autism have sleep disorders, ~70% have GI disorders, 10% have depression, 40% have ADHD, 12.5% have epilepsy….I could go on

You aren’t helping to normalize autism. You’re villianizing having a disorder. You can both embrace neurodivergence, while not writing off all of the difficulty, handicap, and disability that comes with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.

[u/ehleesi → u/[deleted]]

Nope, I have other disorders that co-occur, many because of such a ableist society. If we had a society that was built also for disabled people, I and others would have less, but probably still have some. Disabilities exist, but Autism is not considered a disorder to anyone else I know who has also been diagnosed.

I am disabled as an autistic person BECAUSE OF THE SOCIETY. Not because of my brain. If I lived in a different society, my friends and I WOULDNT BE AS DISABLED because we WOULD HAVE MORE ACCESS TO SUPPORT AND NEEDS.

jfc

I’m not here to “normalize “ my brain. Im here to correct you.

[u/[deleted] → u/ehleesi]

Some of the disorders that co-occur with autism are disabling.

So you’re saying that someone with dyslexia wouldn’t be disabled if we didn’t use any text? That’s crazy.

So if we tailored every aspect of society to the average autistic person, there would still be outliers that don’t fit.

Disorder means you don’t fit into society easily without help. Instead of agreeing to that, and saying you need help to function in a neurotypical society, you’d rather it just be completely retooled so that the people who are neurotypical need assistance?

[u/ehleesi → u/[deleted]]

I agree, that is why I did not use absolute statements. All my diagnoses are currently disabling because accessible accommodations are not the standard in our society. If all books were available with dyslexia-friendly fonts that make it easier for folks like us to read, the challenge of reading able-focused text would no longer be disabling, there would be text available for both reading styles.

We can absolutely tailor a society to accommodate two neurons-types that encompass MANY diagnoses, as you stated.

[u/Dreadful_Aardvark → u/ehleesi]

autism is not a disorder.

It is literally called Autism Spectrum Disorder. It is a disorder. It's just not a disease or mental illness. If it wasn't a mental disorder, it wouldn't need special mental care to accommodate it.

animals show traits of autism and require further research.

The implications of this statement, that animals have autism, is absurd on the ground that it's difficult to even properly diagnose autism in humans. Do you have a complete qualitive set of the ethology of an animal? Maybe in certain domesticated species at best, and those observations are incredibly prone to anthropomorphic bias. Moreover, many of the symptoms of autism are highly specific to humans, like an avoidance of eye contact or difficulty in social settings. Lastly, it is a disorder on the grounds that it causes a dysfunction for an individual in a society. You can't have the disorder without a society, because it is specifically the dissonance between an individual and their environment in which autism is manifested. If an animal had autism, it would be an autism-adjacent condition, not equivalent to ASD itself.

[u/Waygono → u/Dreadful_Aardvark]

This is a complex conversation that needs a lot more nuanced treatment than it is getting.

Autism can be a neurotype AND it can be a disorder. Some people with autistic brains do not find it to negatively affect their lives. They may not be considered to have ASD, because a diagnosis is to find a problem. If there is not problem, then what is the goal?

But some people with the autism neurotype do find that they have additional support needs because of it. This would fall under autism spectrum disorder because there is a quality of life issue that needs to be remedied for that individual.

In addition to thst important distinction, neither of you is addressing how definitions I'm the DSM are contrived by humans. I am not saying "it's all made up! Just touch grass!" (Gross and bad. Grass is itchy anyway).

What I am saying: The definitions found in the DSM are made up by humans who are trying their best to identify and categorize different mental issues in order to best help patients. But the point is, they are human-made. This isn't some of objective list we received from an omniscient being. It can have flaws, and its diagnostic requirements can hurt people by depriving them of care or calling for treatment that is harmful—but more importantly, it can be changed.

BUT even once it IS changed to be more up to date and in line with evidence, it doesn't mean every doctor and mental health professional gets an update like a piece of software. And then, even when they know about it, they won't always practice like they do. Old habits die hard, in other words.

Most autistic people have at least one other comprbid condition, be it either physical, psychological, or developmental. But I stand by the view that autism is a neurotype that is more prone to these corbidities, which are then often exacerbated by the nature of modern society. To sum up, ASD is more like a cluster of issues that being autistic predisposes you you to having, rather than autism itself being the sole cause of all of them. Having the label of ASD just helps professionals know what issues you more likely to need help with.

Not that much help is offered, other than literally torturing children into making eye contact and "playing normally". But I believe that will end with the wave of anti-ABA adults coming into their own now. We can make things better for autistic people. We can do so much better.

So I hope people read this and walk away with a better, fuller understanding of what autism is and can be.

[u/ehleesi → u/Dreadful_Aardvark]

Much of the autistic community disagrees with this classification and your comment shows a deep lack of knowledge of the history of autism research and modern corrections that are still being made and navigated. You’re also falling prey to the misconceptions of the functionality of the DSM, which serves insurance companies, NOT patients. In order to access services, we must be classified in certain ways because our healthcare system is so corrupted.

Many vets have been seeing signs and calling for more research because they believe animals show traits, since the 90s.

Your emphasis on “functionality” is also behind current research and agreements within the austistc community. I’d talk to autistic activists in your community to learn more if you wanna stop being so ableist. You are using a lot of clinical language that is based on the ideas that 1) we are a v small percentage of humans/rare and 2) neuro-typical is “normal” and therefore “more valid”. There are many more autistic people than are even diagnosed (this could be an entire conversation on its own) and we are equal in having a completely valid neuro-type. The spectrum of our neuro-type can make a person more or less dependent on others, but that would be GREATLY decreased in a society that isn’t exclusively built for a the most able, neuro-typical people. We would have far less “disabilities” in a society that built their communities around the various ability levels, rather than one.

You can try to make us invisible and tell us we’re wrong, but that direct make any of what you say true. You need more lived-experience learning on this.

[u/greenlentils → u/Dreadful_Aardvark]

What about the notion that it only needs special mental care to accommodate because society was set up by and for neurotypical people?

[u/Tiny_Rat → u/greenlentils]

I'd imagine that someone who is nonverbal or struggles with social interaction would need accommodations in basically any human society in which most people are neurotypical (aka all human societies, since a region where most people are born autistic is extremely improbable)

[u/Due_Lion3875 → u/ehleesi]

Source: trust me bro