Teorier om autismens ætiologi—et historisk overblik

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Even though the scientific investigation of autism is only 50 years old, a wide range of theories concerning the etiology of autism has been presented since Leo Kanner described and named the autistic syndrome. This article discusses and evaluates some of the most important theories. Kanner himself thought of autism as an organic disturbance although he was not completely clear at this point. In the years after Kanner's original paper, psychoanalytic theories heavily influenced researchers in the field of autism. This gave rise to an era during which purely emotional and psychological causes were promulgated. Other theories were also introduced in this period such as the arousal theorie and Lovaas's theory of stimulus overselectivity. From the perspective of ethology, Niko Tinbergen and his wife launched an alternative theory of infantile autism, but this theory as rapidly rejected by prominent researchers. In the mid-1980's research on autism took a drastic step forward. After Simon Baron-Cohen, Alan Leslie and Uta Frith presented the theory-of-mind hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, the autistic's social, imaginative and communicative deficits are caused by an inability to recognize other people as agents of contemplation. Recently, alternative theories have been presented. In the 1970's, research into biological mechanisms started. Major advances in this field have led to new and important insights.