Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2008 - Volume 31, Issue 03  

Open Peer Commentary

Mapping autism and schizophrenia onto the ontogenesis of social behaviour: A hierarchical-developmental rather than diametrical perspective

Ralf-Peter Behrendta1

a1 Consultant Psychiatrist, The Retreat Hospital, York, YO10 5BN, United Kingdom. rp.behrendt@btinternet.com

Abstract

Co-morbidity of schizophrenia and autism is low because interpersonal concerns of schizophrenic patients presuppose developmental achievements that are absent in autism. Autism may arise if primary anxiety is not overcome at a key developmental stage by affective synchronisation between infant and caregiver. Schizophrenic patients will have learned to regulate primitive anxiety by affectively attuning to narrow social networks but remain highly vulnerable to exclusion from larger groups.