Last year Amanda Peet had a story in Cookie Magazine. She came out very pro-vaccine. Jenny McCarthy “jumped” on the story (delayed to be coincidental with Jenny McCarthy’s need for publicity).
This year, Cookie Magazine has a story with Jenny McCarthy. There is a lot bad in there. I am saving the worst for last (you can skip to the bottom if you want).
As to be expected in a magazine article about a celebrity, Ms. McCarthy is pushing her own business interests. In this case, her educational DVD collection:
“Through a series of entertaining vignettes featuring a cast of kids (including Evan), puppets, and dolls, the DVDs model correct social behavior and tackle everything from sharing and patience to maintaining conversations with friends to sibling rivalry. “Any parent will tell you that her kid watches a show and imitates it,” McCarthy says of her inspiration for the idea.”
I find that statement really strange for educational videos targeting autistic kids. I can think of a number of parents of autistic kids who would disagree with “Any parent will tell you that her kid watches a show and imitates it” From the book “Educating Children with Autism” by the National Academies Press:
Studies over longer periods of time have documented that joint attention, early language skills, and imitation are core deficits that are the hallmarks of the disorder.
Another quote from the Cookie Magazine story:
McCarthy’s widely publicized journey began in 2004, when her son had a seven-hour seizure and went into cardiac arrest. When he got home from the hospital, Evan was put on a heavy dose of antiseizure medication, which kept him awake for four days and induced hallucinations that made him not recognize his mom and bang his head against the wall until he bled. “I ran out of my house and into my driveway and screamed at the top of my lungs to God to just take him away, because I loved him so much and he was in so much pain,” McCarthy says of the period she describes as her “second rock-bottom” (the first being the moment Evan’s heart stopped momentarily).
A couple of observations.
First, I wish Cookie Magazine had clarified the point as to how long after his vaccination the seizure came. His MMR was at 14 months, his first seizure was after he was 2.
Now for the second. Did Jenny McCarthy really write that she had wished her child would be taken by god?
I didn’t want to blog this story. Why give Jenny McCarthy more publicity? Well, here’s the paragraph that made me want to blog:
McCarthy is leading a more normal life now, too, after having felt very alone in her first marriage, to Evan’s dad, and suffering what she calls a “breakdown” two years after Evan went into cardiac arrest and suffered those terrifying seizures. “When your kid is psychotic or crazy, you go into this place of shock so you can remain calm,” she says. “A problem a lot of moms [of autistic children] have is that they need to get out all [their emotions] later. I kept mine bottled up for two years, and then I finally released all this pent up fear, sadness, and anger. I just cried and cried and cried and cried and cried.”
“When your kid is psychotic or crazy, you go into this place of shock so you can remain calm”
I just don’t know what to say. Autism is not “crazy” or “psychotic”. Why is this woman chosen by the press to represent autism?
Maybe next year Cookie Magazine could interview a mother who is autistic or, at least, has an autistic child.
Left Brain Right Brain 
I so agree; In McCarthy’s book she also recounted an episode in the school’s parent waiting area where she noticed that the mom’s were physically and emotionally divided between those that would “do anything” to help their kids and those that just sat there and looked defeated. Perhaps the ones that were not on her side of the room recognized the wild claims and unproven methods that she was promoting. It’s clear that McCarthy is looking at autism from a different lens than I; one in which there isn’t this perfect cure that will make my child typical. I also feel that in her next book she may want to have a medical consultant review her facts as many were simply not believable.
Thanks for the comment, Karen.
There is a big gap between “do anything” and “do anything that makes sense”.
Facts need not enter into the debate:
Indeed, McCarthy is so universally appealing, striking that elusive combo of unapologetically attractive and wickedly funny,
‘Nuff said. We’re all doomed unless Kev’s going to get his boobies out and tell a cracking joke.
I hate the vague “doubled language” sorts of comments that get used in testimonials. I’m glad her kid made a jump, but “double” means very different things when a child has “only a few two-word phrases” than when a child has much more language.
“We’re all doomed unless Kev’s going to get his boobies out and tell a cracking joke.”
Well, then, Kevin…. up to you mate…
Your audience wants nipples! Well, THEIR audience wants nipples because they’re easier to fucking visualise than actual bleeding facts!
I disagree that autistic kids don’t imitate TV shows. They do – the ones they really like, and then go on to script and act out the scenes repeatedly. The problem with the DVD (I’ve seen the one for pretend play) is that not all kids will get especially excited about those scenes to the point of playing them out, and even more, to the point of generalizing those pretend play skills.
As for the story, I’m sad that when we are bracing for a really scary flu season, people will be discouraged from vaccinating because of McCarthy and her followers.
Leila,
I’d say that some ASD kids would imitate. But some don’t. I don’t know what fraction, but imitation is considered a big enough topic that it appears in the NAP’s book (and many other places).
Sullivan, I think their imitation skills are impaired, mainly due to a lack of intrinsic motivation to imitate/reciprocate. It depends on what they “choose” to imitate, and what they are physically able to imitate.
It is indeed most unfortunate. I think DVD’s are a good idea for some children, there are already quite a few on the market. I don’t know if she’s really trying to exploit the situation but I doubt it, she doesn’t seem a malicious type, it’s more an opportunity and people listen to her and she wants to help.
The terminology certainly appeals to those she is most trying to reach which is also understandable and even more unfortunate.
I have to add, I have heard from one parent whose opinion I trust that the DVD’s were actually good for some kids (not specific to ASD). I just find the idea of the parent of a non-autistic child pushing DVD’s on the autism community with a viewpoint that is basically flawed (all kids imitate) to be distasteful.
@Maddy – I haven’t read any of her books, none of her writings anywhere, so I can’t characterize her as “malicious”. I do think she’s exploiting the situation and would use the word “avaricious” instead. She gave up on the “Indigo Child” nonsense because it was just a passing fad. She found something that, (whether it actually applied to her child or not), was NOT going to fade away. She makes Money off this, and incidentally, keeps her name and face in public view, playing the “martyr mom”. Despicable, I think.
There is evidence that video modeling (as opposed to “watching TV”) can help kids with autism learn, e.g., http://tr.im/vRx7. But to apply what “any kid” does to kids with autism is yet another example of the sloshy, shallow thinking Ms. McCarthy uses in so many of her writings and proclamations about autism.
Please, please, please Cookie Magazine, interview me.
My autistic child loves to imitate things she sees in videos. These would work well for her–as long as the people she is interacting with don’t attempt to vary the script in any way.
Nice persona to promote correct social behavior example, no? Like running over to the playboy house for a debauchery inspired party? Or hollering Bullshit at opponents of ones viewpoint on TV in order to try and win the debate with emotion instead of facts.
Kiss my assets lady.
I have never read any of Jenny’s books, simply because I don’t think that she is very credible. To say that children with autism is “psychotic” is the most absurd thing that I have ever heard. She has made having autism out to be the worse thing in the world. My son is autistic and I would not change him, he is wonderful. She is not nor should ever be considered a spokesperson for the autistic community.
Janet,
take a look at Jenny McCarthy sporting her “Tired of Autism” bracelet.
This from a woman who, if we take her at her word, had an autistic child for 2 years or so? And that was a couple of years ago? She is tired of autism?
I really don’t understand how she can be taken by the media as a representative of an autism community.
She may genuinely be trying to help with her dvd, but unless the kids find something that interests them, then it won’t work. And most of them would just repeat a very small section over and over again, rather than watching the whole thing. Generalising ASD kids simply won’t help them. Anyway, I wouldn’t buy a dvd from someone who is “Tired of Autism”, I would much rather buy another Thomas the Tank Engine one instead (if I could find one that we don’t have :))
I thought that keeping your feelings bottled up for years was simply being a parent and putting your kids first, no matter what needs they have. No medals there, even for teenagers, when we totally deserve one 🙂
Psychotic and crazy kids eh? What a fantastic description about autism. (Thanks Jenny but I would much rather you come to terms with your own son and his needs, rather than recovering your own mental health on a wave of desperate parents who have placed you on a pedestal).
My autistic son is many things, but the description of crazy and psychotic is very derogatory. Its a pity that some have appointed JM as their crusader, b/c she will be the increasing catalyst to more and more polarised opinions in the future.
My son prefers Blue’s Clues. And hey, BC is actually pretty good for overtly teaching social and life skills. My son has started talking a lot more after watching it, but it’s not like he watches videos in a vacuum. We’ve been reading to him, sending him to preschool, and otherwise interacting with him.
I’d try the JMc videos too, but I hear they’re made by an anti-vaccine whackaloon, and I’d prefer not to give her money.
I am probably just a selfish jerk, but if the videos would really help my kid I’d buy them. I figure that $1 from me isn’t going to advance her cause when she has access tovs. Jim Carrey’s millions…
QUICK! Someone hire a big breasted dumb woman that can market Neuro-D!
Thats my thoughts on Jenny, she nothing to be feared, she just bilboard with huge silacon tatas. It’s been theorized that Evan isn’t even autistic. She founds something to market herself in after being a wash-up it’s pathetic. Why do you go back to selling your vag and let real parents advocate for autism Jenny
I worry quite a lot whenever I see anything that attempts to capture the entire ‘autism kid market’.
I watched my own son score a goal in soccer today playing a team sport that a doctor once told us he would never play because he ‘has autism’.
I am rapidly learning not to under (or over) estimate any child who has autism and in my admittedly limited experience once of the most typical features of autism is its atypical presentation from child to child – there are some shared behavioural features but at the level of capability there is great variation, as with any child.
I figure I just need to love him, provide the support he needs along with any therapy and ignore any advice that comes from McCarthy or her ilk.
“Autism is not “crazy” or “psychotic”.”
Some element of denial?
@dr treg – No denial, just statement of fact. I’ve never been crazy nor psychotic in my 63 years, although for the first 53 of them, before I was Dxd, I didn’t know what to think about my differentness. Not crazy, not psychotic, just different. Thank you very much.
I hereby trademark the phrase “neural otherness is awesome’
(as given to me by one of my non-autistic blog commenters who appreciates our world)
I can be funny, I can hold my own when interviewed. But I have small boobs and a moveable expressive face. (mostly laughlines from my kids)
So if someone can sub me some breast aug and about a litre of botox – I will go on the US talk show circuit and sell our message.
xx
Hello friends –
I don’t have this DVD, but I have seen one with her and one of her son’s therapists in them. (I think). Anyways, my son didn’t go for them, but I bet other kids might. As far as autism therapy videos go, if your kid likes it, the fathers are going to find these easier on the eyes than most. Hah.
As far as crazy or psychotic; the fact is, that is how some children with autism present behaviorally, especially when you are at the beginning of the ride. My son used to smack infants that cried, or anyone that sneezed. He broke two windows in our home banging his head before he was three years old. He was obsessed with making sure that things colored orange and green were put together. He was stone cold silent for six full months; except in his room in the dark, when he would laugh out loud again and again. Putting the word ‘autism’ or ‘autistic’ in front of this type of behavior doesn’t make it appear any less crazy or psychotic.
– pD
pD-
with all due respect, acting strangely, even very strangely, is not the same as acting psychotically.
Psychotic (and crazy) implies a lack of connection with reality. I realize this is somewhat of a catch-22 when dealing with nonverbal people, but without an understanding of why someone does something, you can’t say it is psychotic. Banging ones head, even into windows, is not being out of touch with reality. Putting orange and green items together is not being out of touch with reality.
Using an example not from your child: lining up cars. Lining up cars because one has an over riding need to do so is one thing. One could say it is a common trait to autistics, or those with OCD. Lining up cars because voices tell you to do so–that is psychotic.
I would say that parents of children who are truly psychotic don’t need Jenny McCarthy using the “crazy” word either.
A simple mental test: Had Amanda Peet made a comment that autistic kids are psychotic, would there be outrage? I would be very comfortable betting money on that. I would even bet a large sum on the exact person who would write the blog post at a certain blog I know.
Wasnt autism initially originally described as childhood schizophrenia and schizophrenia is one of the psychoses?
@ dr treg – What are you, a dentist? Didn’t people used to think the world was flat? Ya gotta catch up with the times, man.
Another denial?
Statement of fact. Autism is Not childhood schizophrenia, although it was considered as such in a past generation. We now know better. You’re WAY behind the times.
Autism was originally described as childhood schizophrenia as stated above.
I am extremely sorry that the type of bigotry that prevails on this site will more than likely add to the ever increasing epidemic of autism.
By definition hallucinating is a psychotic event.
And by the way, God is spelled with a capital “G”
Autism sucks!
bensmyson,
thanks for your input.
Autism is not a state of hallucinating.
bensmyson,
I’m extremely sorry that a certain other site you frequent will do nothing to further understanding of what autism is and is sponsored by businesses out to make a buck off of desperate parents.
Your god may be spelled with a capital g, but that doesn’t make everyone else’s god(s) or goddesses, for that matter, spelled with a capital.
Gosh, way to signal to all autistic persons that they suck. I’m sure Ben will appreciate seeing that when he grows up.
And to agree with Sullivan, autism and hallucination have nothing to do with each other.
Hallucinations are not necessary for the diagnosis of psychosis.
@ dr dreg – True, there are many manifestations of psychosis. Which ones do you have?
Clay,
Dr. Treg is trolling to get exactly this sort of comment out of people.
In Kanner (1943)? It wasn’t. Kanner noted that the children might have been viewed as feeble-minded or schizophrenic, but that’s different. In fact, Kanner said the specific syndrome of autism was a novel concept, quite unlike anything previously reported. He added:
Granted, later autism was considered a type of childhood schizophrenia. According to Kanner’s view in 1943, what we call “regressive autism” now is childhood schizophrenia. Childhood schizophrenia is clearly a category that is rarely if ever used anymore.
It is interesting that this site is usually quite rational but when certain valid comments are made re
1. Autism was described as childhood schizophrenia in the past.
2. Hallucinations are not necessary for diagnosing psychoses.
instead of just being taken as normal entries certain individuals become personally offensive as they have made mistakes in their entries possibly due to lack of insight and denial.
McCarthy seems to affect people`s judgement. Not everything she says is wrong and not everything she says is right as with most people.
Why was risperidone, an anti-psychotic, given a licence by the FDA for the treatment of autism?
dr treg,
perhaps because some of use know that the definition of psychosis has changed over time. At one time, yes, autistic people were labeled as “psychotic”. Given the modern definition, this is no longer the case:
http://www2.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwmednlm?book=Medical&va=psychosis
“a serious mental disorder (as schizophrenia) characterized by defective or lost contact with reality often with hallucinations or delusions”
“McCarthy seems to affect people`s judgement”. Very true. There is an entire organization currently built around affecting people’s judgment using Jenny McCarthy.
“1. Autism was described as childhood schizophrenia in the past.
2. Hallucinations are not necessary for diagnosing psychoses.”
We are not in the past. Autism is not characterized by hallucinations.
Just a note, dr treg,
you are demonstrating two facts here
1) you work from a position of profound ignorance as to the current understanding of autism
2) even Jenny McCarthy’s followers see her statement in Cookie Magazine as considering autism to be a psychosis.
re. “a serious mental disorder (as schizophrenia) characterized by defective or lost contact with reality often with hallucinations or delusions”
Excluding the hallucinations, which you seem to be preoccupied with, the other parts of the definition of lost contact with reality and delusions seem to apply to autism which can also be treated with risperidone an anti-psychotic drug.
Seems like splitting hairs.
Clay,
sorry to slow you down there bud. You had him pegged. Clearly not in touch with reality, this one.
dr treg,
I am going to ask a sincere question:
Are you trolling?
From where I sit you are either
a) trolling and exceptionally rude
or
b) completely out of touch with what autism is
Seriously.
There is a pretty good case that psychosis and autism are the opposite ends of a continuum of social behaviors.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18578904
I think their ideas about paternal imprinting of genes leading to one or the other are not quite correct, but some of the ideas in this paper are compelling. What this means is that a touch of autism may actually make psychosis more difficult to happen. The literal brains of people on the spectrum are more resistant to delusions than the less literal brains of people who are NT.
To make a crude analogy, people with autism have trouble understanding communication that NTs can understand. People with psychosis have no trouble understanding communication that NTs can’t understand (i.e. people with psychosis can hear communication that isn’t there).
“Why was risperidone, an anti-psychotic, given a licence by the FDA for the treatment of autism?”
Anti-Ps are also used to treat migraines, per the FDA. Don’t take the drug-to-market name so blasted literally, Dr Treg.
Both autism and schizophrenia increasingly appear to be neuro-inflammatory psychiatric diseases which share
1. Abnormal T helper cell responses
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WC1-4HS3BSR-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=978851374&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=06c20bf7d41be201dc076a871418e032
http://jleuk.highwire.org/cgi/content/abstract/80/1/1
2. Genetic factors
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19135727
3. Dendritic spines abnormalities
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2007/06/28/1964387.htm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/nu-tji081009.php
4. Clinical features
Patients with autism may have delusions, hallucinations and reduced connectivity with reality.
5. Treatments
Risperidone is used for the psychotic features of both diseases. (Not headaches as stated above)
To say that patients with autism cannot be psychotic is splitting hairs. Once again it is all about current psychiatric nosology which is rapidly becoming outdated with advances in neuroscience.
Has anyone said this? No one says that autism is some sort of shield against being psychotic. The point is that autism is not a psychosis.
While “Patients with autism may have delusions, hallucinations and reduced connectivity with reality”, that is a very different thing from saying, “autism is a lack of connectivity with reality”.
Are you saying that Risperidone is effective in treating autism? Unless you want to grant that point, your Risperidone argument is obviously a troll.
That is a false statement.
Risperidol is approved for “irritability associated with autistic disorder”
“Has anyone said this? No one says that autism is some sort of shield against being psychotic.”
You said this in the opening post:
“Autism is not “crazy” or “psychotic”.”
Yes, Dr. Treg,
Autism is not psychotic.
That is a very different statement, logically, from “patients with autism can not be psychotic”.
Once again, do you misunderstand or are you trolling?
(edited to add “autism” into the quote)
So what is the diagnosis in a patient with autism who develops “psychosis” i.e. hallucinations and delusions?
dr treg,
I would guess a dual diagnosis of autism and whatever fits the other symptoms.
Dr Treg. Darling. You misquoted me. I.do.not.like. I said: “Anti-P’s”. Please re-read what I wrote. Since the 1950s, if one shows up at an ER with a migraine there is a good chance they’ll be given an Anti-P.
All such clients that I’ve met clinically that have autism and psychosis have been diagnosed as ‘autistic’ and ‘schizophrenic/name of psychosis’.
Note that hallucinations and delusions are not neccisarily sufficient to qualify a client for a diagnosis of a psychotic condition.
Let me quote from the Volkmar & Cohen (1991) abstract:
This is in contrast with the fact that the most common misdiagnosis of autistic adults is schizophrenia. There’s no contradiction necessarily, however.
In a chapter by Frith & Frith of a book titled “Social Psychiatry,” they state:
If delusions and hallucinations were part of autism, they would just be. There would be no need to deny it. But they aren’t. Why suggest they are, except to troll and to try to bother people? This is not something that only Dr. Treg does. RAJ is also known to do this much of the time.
It makes no sense to compare autism with X condition, on the basis that both have genetic factors, for example. You could compare autism with virtually anything that way.
“[…] a patient with autism who develops “psychosis” i.e. hallucinations and delusions?”
My dear Dr Treg — of course you know to discontinue the autistic client’s prescribed use of Risperidone immediately under such circumstances.
@i’ve a headache now
I could be wrong, but I don’t believe dr treg is a doctor of the sort who could prescribe meds to autistics.
Ah, but he/she’s vastly interested in Regulatory T Cells.
If delusions and hallucinations were part of autism, they would just be. There would be no need to deny it. But they aren’t.
Ah, we can always trust Joseph to come up with the definitive answer!
Why suggest they are, except to troll and to try to bother people?
And he nailed that one too. (But so did I).
This is not something that only Dr. Treg does. RAJ is also known to do this much of the time.
Right, and they can both kiss my big red rosy …
:-)
So when a patient with autism thinks that a noisy car is a monster that will eat him/her, or when the patient has an imaginary friend that they talk to you are saying that these are not delusions or hallucinations affecting the patient with autism?