Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl
the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects,
then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and
observations.
Today's article discusses how disasters affect people with depression differently than others. This study is an example of how science sometimes has to improvise when the unexpected happens. It's not explained what the original study was aimed at, but after their data group's city suffered a refinery explosion (which killed 15 people and injured 170 people), they opted to change their focus to measure how much the disaster had changed the participants' data. Effectively, the researchers were able to take "before and after pictures" with two tests and a blood sample.
While the apparently healthy people bounced back in this study without major changes, people who had even minor depressive symptoms (such as feelings of fatigue or sadness) and expressed concern for their physical health did not. When their blood samples were tested, they showed a 75% increase of immune markers that signal inflammation in the body. So, most likely, those concerned and slightly-to-very depressed people were experiencing lots of inflammation in their bodies.
That may not mean a whole lot to you. It wouldn't have to me, a few months ago. But it's a bad thing. Basically, if your entire system is inflamed, it's like your white blood cells think you've got the flu, all the time. Part of why you feel tired when you have the flu is because of your immune system, which is fighting an all-out battle to kill off the flu germs. The same basic thing happens here, sans that your body isn't fighting anything, it's just mobilized and marching around, messing things up, without anything to actually fight. Whole body inflammation can also signal an autoimmune disease, where the immune system starts fighting the healthy body.
On a more personal note, apparently simply being highly stressed is enough to cause whole body inflammation. Prior to heading off to CT for the first time this month, my doctor commented that I looked "puffy" and inflamed. She didn't seem overly surprised, since she knew some of the major stressors I was dealing with. But she did more or less tell me that it'd be best to reduce the stresses in my life so the inflammation would go down.
So basically, this study tells us that people who are vulnerable to stress and depression get hit harder and longer by disasters. Given how many autistic people also suffer depression, it's important to keep this in mind given the various hurricanes and other natural disasters. Then, too, there's the scale of this study. The disaster they studied here was relatively small: one city, less than 200 people immediately killed or injured. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters tend to affect many more people, and destroy many more buildings. Likely the effects shown here in this study would be amplified the larger the disaster.
My final comment is that while society has a definition of a "disaster," that definition may vary based on who you are. An autistic child who doesn't blend well in school or society might classify moving to a new house as a disaster, if they could understand the concept and communicate back that information. So you might see these same inflammation effects from something as simple as moving across town, and even moreso if the move is cross-state. That doesn't mean families shouldn't move, but great care and understanding should be given if the autistic person reacts badly, adjusts poorly, or treats the event like the end of the world... because it might well be, for them.
Today's article discusses how disasters affect people with depression differently than others. This study is an example of how science sometimes has to improvise when the unexpected happens. It's not explained what the original study was aimed at, but after their data group's city suffered a refinery explosion (which killed 15 people and injured 170 people), they opted to change their focus to measure how much the disaster had changed the participants' data. Effectively, the researchers were able to take "before and after pictures" with two tests and a blood sample.
While the apparently healthy people bounced back in this study without major changes, people who had even minor depressive symptoms (such as feelings of fatigue or sadness) and expressed concern for their physical health did not. When their blood samples were tested, they showed a 75% increase of immune markers that signal inflammation in the body. So, most likely, those concerned and slightly-to-very depressed people were experiencing lots of inflammation in their bodies.
That may not mean a whole lot to you. It wouldn't have to me, a few months ago. But it's a bad thing. Basically, if your entire system is inflamed, it's like your white blood cells think you've got the flu, all the time. Part of why you feel tired when you have the flu is because of your immune system, which is fighting an all-out battle to kill off the flu germs. The same basic thing happens here, sans that your body isn't fighting anything, it's just mobilized and marching around, messing things up, without anything to actually fight. Whole body inflammation can also signal an autoimmune disease, where the immune system starts fighting the healthy body.
On a more personal note, apparently simply being highly stressed is enough to cause whole body inflammation. Prior to heading off to CT for the first time this month, my doctor commented that I looked "puffy" and inflamed. She didn't seem overly surprised, since she knew some of the major stressors I was dealing with. But she did more or less tell me that it'd be best to reduce the stresses in my life so the inflammation would go down.
So basically, this study tells us that people who are vulnerable to stress and depression get hit harder and longer by disasters. Given how many autistic people also suffer depression, it's important to keep this in mind given the various hurricanes and other natural disasters. Then, too, there's the scale of this study. The disaster they studied here was relatively small: one city, less than 200 people immediately killed or injured. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters tend to affect many more people, and destroy many more buildings. Likely the effects shown here in this study would be amplified the larger the disaster.
My final comment is that while society has a definition of a "disaster," that definition may vary based on who you are. An autistic child who doesn't blend well in school or society might classify moving to a new house as a disaster, if they could understand the concept and communicate back that information. So you might see these same inflammation effects from something as simple as moving across town, and even moreso if the move is cross-state. That doesn't mean families shouldn't move, but great care and understanding should be given if the autistic person reacts badly, adjusts poorly, or treats the event like the end of the world... because it might well be, for them.
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