XPost: misc.health.alternative, alt.psychology   
   From: fan@superstar.stalk.net   
      
   Someone wrote...   
   >>>> The TV says that 1 in 166 kids are now autistic. The risk is lower   
   >>>> with hispanic and black kids...   
      
   I've always suspected that the current "epidemic" of autism is similar to   
   the previous epidemics of ADD and teen suicide that came before.  Ten   
   years ago almost every boy was diagnosed as having attention deficit   
   disorder and forcibly treated with Ritalin, and today the same boys are   
   diagnosed as autistic and forcibly treated with whatever drug and   
   expensive psychotherapy.   
      
   Evidence of my theory can be found in the lower rates of autism among   
   blacks and Mexican kids.  Since the parents of those children tend to be   
   poor and can't afford tens of thousands of dollars a year on therapy for   
   their kids, their kids manage to avoid being diagnosed autistic like   
   their kids' more affluent white peers.  Wealthy white parents don't   
   hesitate to ship their kids off to a psychiatrist every time he acts   
   like a brat, so it is not surprising that this is the group that gets   
   slapped with the autism label.  Since black kids and Mexican kids   
   especially tend to be uninsured and since psychologists don't work for   
   free, the epidemic of autism is less serious among those groups.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)