Rising Autism Rates Blamed on the Medicalization of Behavioral Issues

There was recently a major report published by a team of American researchers documenting a significant increase in autism diagnoses.

Between 2011 and 2022, the annual autism diagnoses tripled among children aged 5 to 8, with smaller but still noticeable increases in older age groups.

While the researchers did not provide a specific explanation for this rise, there are many possible causes that have been suggested by experts. These include exposure to endocrine disruptors and other environmental toxins.

However, mainstream clinicians tend to attribute the increase in diagnosis to increased awareness, improved screening, and changes in diagnostic criteria that occurred in 2013.

A family doctor with over 30 years of experience, believes that the rise in autism diagnoses may also be due to the medicalization of misbehavior. Instead of addressing behavioral issues directly, children are being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which may not always be accurate.

Multiple factors contribute to this trend, including financial incentives for schools to diagnose more children with autism and parents absolving themselves of responsibility for their child’s behavior by attributing it to autism.

The writer emphasizes the importance of parents taking responsibility for their children’s behavior, resisting the trend of medicalizing misbehavior, and working towards transforming challenging behavior into positive traits.

Ultimately, the message is to empower parents to guide their children towards success by addressing behavioral issues directly and encouraging personal responsibility.

Leonard Sax, MD, PhD is a family doctor and psychologist and the author of “The Collapse of Parenting” (Basic Books).