Seeing Movement
Elizabeth B. Torres, Caroline Whyatt in Autism, 2017
An autism diagnosis is currently a psychological construct—a description of a behavioral phenotype, based on observation and interpretation rather than on physical measurements—and remains far less defined at the physiological level; its pathways and mechanisms are not well understood and prognoses are not particularly helpful. Whether, or to what extent, the autism phenotype the DSM has constructed will match up with some future biobehavioral model remains to be seen. Much as a museum curator might display a group of puzzling artifacts reportedly found together, in the hope that their tentative association will encourage research and eventually lead to an interpretation of their function, the DSM’s authors have continued to collect, curate, and rearrange groups of symptoms associated with the autism construct in the hope that they will one day prove meaningful at a deeper explanatory level. Not all collections of symptoms unveiled in the DSM are equally well received or productive; some are quickly disassembled and dispersed (as occurred with the Asperger’s diagnosis from DSM-IV) because in practice they fail to capture systematic endophenotypic groups—that is, groups of behavioral symptoms with clear genetic connections. Other plausible, related collections of symptoms, such as “sensory processing disorder” (proposed in the run-up to DSM-5), have acquired professional lobbies but are still waiting in the wings for admission to a future edition.
The who, what, where, when, why and how of picking, pulling and biting behaviors
Stacy K. Nakell in Treatment for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, 2023
While there are fundamental differences between my understanding of BFRBs and that of the researchers in the CBT field, we do agree that hair pulling and skin picking, along with cheek lip and nail-biting, would fit best in their own diagnostic category. Stein et al. (2010), some of whom are on the Scientific Advisory Board of TLC Foundation for BFRBs, advocated for the creation of a Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) before the DSM 5 was published (APA, 2013). BFRBDs have more in common with one another than with either their impulsive counterparts such as kleptomania or those under the obsessive-compulsive umbrella (OCD). They also are often found to co-occur (Roberts et al., 2013). Commonalities include physiological sensitivity and sensory processing disorder, as well as common comorbid conditions including depression, anxiety, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Cannabis testing: Taking a closer look
Betty Wedman-St. Louis in Cannabis, 2018
There are a growing number of cannabis oil success stories, including Elkan, now 10 years old, living in Oregon. Elkan suffered from severe autism, including attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), pervasive development disorder (PDD), and sensory processing disorder (SPD). Elkan also had trouble speaking, suffered intense leaky bowel syndrome symptoms, and needed to be physically restrained three to four times per week because he would start flailing around. In a 2014 interview with Elkan's mother, Laura, she commented that, “Elkan's doctors were not sure why all pharmaceuticals other than Ritalin were showing no benefit whatsoever.” Nothing seemed to work, and most pharmaceuticals only exacerbated his symptoms. Elkan began taking a blend of natural CBD oils, and after just three months, he can now speak, does not experience leaky bowel syndrome symptoms, and does not need to be restrained. “It's unbelievable!” Elkan's mother added, “Now that Elkan is taking just one CBD oil formulation, he no longer has these symptoms and episodes.”
Sensory processing disorder: Key points of a frequent alteration in neurodevelopmental disorders
Published in Cogent Medicine, 2020
Adrian Galiana-Simal, Maria Vela-Romero, Victor Manuel Romero-Vela, Nuria Oliver-Tercero, Virginia García-Olmo, Pedro Javier Benito-Castellanos, Victoria Muñoz-Martinez, Luis Beato-Fernandez
Some authors divide the SI process in 4 phases (Del Moral Orro et al., 2013): registration (the brain receives sensory information from sense organs); modulation (allows the regulation of stimulus intensity); discrimination (the stimulus is organized and interpreted to distinguish its relevance, characteristics and specific qualities) and response (the brain integrates all the processed stimuli to generate an appropriate response that will lead to a particular behavior and movements). Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) (also known as Sensory Regulation Dysfunction, Sensory Integration Dysfunction or Sensory Dysfunction Disorder) can be defined as a condition in which one or more of the SI phases are altered, giving rise to unadapted behavioral and/or motor responses (Galiana-Simal et al., 2017). SPD may affect learning, coordination, behavior, language or sensorimotor development, among others, hindering daily life activities and occupational participation (Chien et al., 2016; Corbett et al., 2016; Crozier et al., 2016). Despite this, a large number of health and educational professionals are still unaware of SPD. The present work aims to provide a general and updated starting point about this disorder, reviewing several important aspects such as assessment, prevalence, related factors and comorbidity, related problems, common signs, candidate biomarkers and treatment.
Sensory Modulation Challenges: One Missing Piece in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Veterans with PTSD
Published in Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, 2023
All the above lead this author to observe that these types of problems in veterans with PTSD described in DSM-5 (emotional numbing, hyperarousal, and Criterion E) need to be further investigated. They appear to be the same issues that have been described for years in children and more recently in adults as one type of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD); Sensory Modulation Challenges. A standardized assessment was published for children in 1999, the Sensory Profile (Dunn, 1999)) and for adults in 2002, the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (Brown and Dunn, 2002). Sensory Modulation Challenges reflect a person’s arousal level in rection to sensations in the environment. We now know that Sensory Modulation Challenges (SMC) can manifest at any age. They may be present at birth and are very often observed after trauma in children and adults. They consist mostly of over or under arousal reactions to normal sensory events in the environment. The person’s reactions and the resulting effect on behavior can significantly interfere with participation in daily activities. Reactions involve the automatic triggering of the sympathetic fight/flight reaction which is not under conscious control. The primary purpose of our brain is to first alert us to danger to “keep us alive.” Problems arise when our nervous system over alerts us to sensory signals that are not actually threatening, keeping us in a hyperaroused state. And sometimes, as stated earlier, if the nervous system reacts to too much sensory input, the system can become overloaded and “shut down” to additional input resulting in a state that appears to be under aroused.
Autism inside out: lessons from the memoirs of three minimally verbal youths
Published in Disability and Rehabilitation, 2019
Christie Welch, Helene Polatajko, Patty Rigby, Margaret Fitch
Further, Carly’s, Tito’s and Naoki’s experiences of sensory perception factor frequently into their descriptions of everyday life. Despite this being a theme common to all three, each youth describes sensory experiences differently. Much of their experiences align with descriptions of hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity to sensory stimuli seen in the literature on sensory processing disorder [35]. Tito stands out in his description of sensory experiences in that he adds semantic meaning and lyrical description. For example: … Jack’s voice because you suddenly discover that those reflections are conspiring to tell you a story.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Activities of Daily Living
- Autism Spectrum
- Developmental Coordination Disorder
- Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
- Somatosensory System
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Multisensory Integration
- Occupational Therapy
- Activities of Daily Living
- Cognitive Disorder
- Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
- Pediatrics