"Link Between Autism And Schizophrenia May Be Key To Treating Both" - Daisy Yuhas
When the shy, dark-haired boy met with clinicans for a full psychiatric evaluation two years ago, almost everything about him pointed to autism… but something else was clearly at work, too. “He had these things he would call day dreams,” said Jennifer Foss-Feig, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of medicine at Mount Sinai. As these episodes grew more frequent, they raised a red flag. Ultimately, they diagnosed him with autism and psychosis, which, Dr. Foss-Feig said, was probably due to schizophrenia. This combination of features, it turns out, is not all that unusual. Studies have found elevated rates of autism among young people with childhood-onset schizophrenia appear before age 13 rather than in late adolescence. And although autism and schizophrenia are characterized differently in popular books and films, scientists have long suspected that the two conditions are somehow linked.
- Jennifer Foss-Feig, PhD, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai