ASAT
ASAT Responds to NY Times Story "A French Film Takes Issue With the Psychoanalytic Approach to Autism"
Sunday, January 22, 2012
To the Editor:
Thank you for your recent article by Mr. Jolly and Ms. Novak titled, "A French Film Takes Issue With the Psychoanalytic
Approach to Autism". This documentary features interviews with several
psychoanalysts who espouse a belief that the mother's psychological
make-up has harmed her child and that the father has failed to protect the
child from the negative influences of the mother. If anyone has failed,
it has been the psychoanalytic community which, in the last 50
years, has been unable to produce credible evidence for its
assertions, has robbed children of their futures,
and has abdicated responsibility for the harm they have caused
families.
Medical
ethics teaches that physicians should "first do no harm." Children
with autism who are treated psychoanalytically are denied
scientifically-validated treatment and exposed to outmoded and
ineffective interventions. Their parents are made to believe
that they are part of the problem, rather than an integral part of the solution
towards improving their child's condition. If any other medical,
psychiatric or developmental condition was treated in this
manner, the word "malpractice" would come to mind.
This story is an important one. When we as a society take children
with autism under our care, it is our responsibility to use evidence-based
procedures and to carry out intervention in a manner that is accountable,
humane and transparent. This documentary casts light on the fact that a
thoroughly discredited and harmful approach to autism still has its die-hard
defenders, no matter what the evidence, and no matter how egregious might be
the damage to vulnerable children and struggling mothers and fathers.
However, we should not be complacent and believe that the problem is
localized to a few fanatical French psychoanalysts. Our country too has
its share of bogus treatments for autism - you can find over one hundred of
them currently on the Internet - many of whose practitioners continue to cling
to their outlandish claims and lucrative practices decade after decade
in spite of their failure to produce any shred of evidence that meets
peer-reviewed standards. Facilitated Communication and the never-ending
demonization of vaccines are just two examples.
Children with autism deserve better.
David Celiberti, Ph.D., BCBA-D
President, Association for Science in Autism Treatment
Catherine Maurice, Ph.D
Author of Let Me Hear Your Voice
Founding Member, Association for Science in Autism Treatment
Read More at http://www.nytimes.com/.../film-about-treatment-of-autism-strongly-criticized-in-france.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
