Most people have heard of the term ‘Refrigerator Mother’. A not-so-charming term used widely in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s to explain the autism enigma. Basically, back then, they didn’t have any idea what caused Autism (not much has changed has it), so someone came up with the profoundly terrible idea, that mothers who were cold and unloving to their children, caused the condition in their child. I just can’t imagine what these poor mothers went through. Not only did they have a child to deal with that had an endless amount of issues, no internet or anywhere to go for information for that matter, but they were blamed for the child’s condition because they didn’t care for them enough. By any standard, that is brutal and we like to think that things have moved on from then, and i’m sure for the most part they have. However, after hearing about a recent study, my immediate thought was, here we go again.
The study, called Project Ice Storm, was done in Quebec in Canada and followed the progress of women who were pregnant during the 1998 ice storm. During the storm, some families were without power for up to 45 days, which would be indeed stressful. The researches have followed the progress of the children born after that event and have come to a conclusion of sorts. High stress levels in mothers cause ‘autism like symptoms’ and ‘asthma like symptoms’. Now, I am the first one to agree that stress is very underestimated and can certainly wreak havoc, however, I would like to have seen more made of this opportunity. For example : Did the researches take any other factors into account? Were the mothers deprived of fresh nutrition and only eat highly processed and preserved foods for extended periods of time? Did they have fresh water or did they drink water from plastic bottles that were high in BPA? Were they subjected to fumes from alternative forms of heating for the duration of the ice storm? Were the mothers advised to get, and did they indeed get flu shots or any other boosters during this time? Factors such as these are just as important, if not even more important. And of course there’s always my favourite that seems to get left out every step of the way…family medical history.
As I heard it reported in the mainstream media, “the Canadian researchers have found a possible cause of autism…maternal stress”. The headline on Science Daily read “A new study finds a link between prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) and the development of symptoms of asthma and autism in children”. The researchers themselves stop short of claiming an actual link to autism, but use the phrase ‘odd autism like symptoms’. Stress in the long term is without a doubt harmful, but in the history of humanity, there have been countless and endless stressful events. Seriously, there have been wars in the Middle East for generations, and while an Ice Storm maybe stressful, can it compare to a war? There have been famines in Africa for decades. Are these ‘odd behaviours’ unusually high in Ethiopa amongst children of the famines? Wouldn’t Autism rates have been steadily rising for thousands of years if maternal stress was the cause? Shouldn’t we ALL be autistic by now?
Studies like these are incredibly important and will ultimately help the autism puzzle be put together, but we must make the most of these opportunities as they arise. With the outrageously high number of children being affected with autism and other developmental delays, researchers and the media must take this seriously. Blasting carelessly on the evening news that mothers stress levels are to blame is attention grabbing for all the wrong reasons. I heard the headline at the beginning of the news and sat glued until the end to find out what has caused my sons autism, only to find on the surface, that it’s my fault. I sat for a while feeling deflated, guilty and outraged at the same time. A heady mix that made me immediately want to reach for the Sav Blanc. I decided to dig a little deeper, and that’s when I found out about the study. It’s sometimes hard to work out where the research outcomes end and the media slant begins. Blaming mothers without further research puts even MORE stress on women and diverts the attention from other factors. Mothers need support, and lots of it. Telling a woman that her stress levels could cause her child to have ‘autism like symptoms’ is not going to lower her stress levels!
As parents, especially mothers, when we find out our child has any kind of condition, we often automatically blame ourselves and search for reasons as to what has caused the problem. Of course we shouldn’t blame ourselves, but it is a natural thing to do. The last thing mothers need is to hear, all these decades later is that they are at fault. If there are things future mothers can do to limit or eliminate the chance of having a child with issues, of course that should and must be reported, but only after much more careful, thorough and considered research. I think it’s of utmost importance to not pay attention to these headlines and internalise them as truths. And always remember what Stevie Wonder said? ‘When you’re movin’ in the positive, your destination is the brightest star’.
Kitty xx
AUTnotISM 