Autism

Part I of Essay
A relatively rare multifactorial disorder occurring in as many as 1 in 500 people, is still largely an enigma to many doctors and scientists (Johnson, Dorman, 1998). Until Leo Kanner's use of the description autistic in 1948, schizophrenia was the general label given to p ....

Part II of Essay
.... disturbances were noted in the early twentieth-century classifications of mental disorders (Nelson, Israel, 1997). The descriptions and classifications of these disturbances, however, were confusing and controversial. Kraeplin set the basis for modern classification. He used the terms dementia, a belief that progressive deterioration occurred, and praecox, meaning the disorders began early. Later the term schizophrenia was applied by Bleuer. He argued that deterioration was not inevitable and that psychological factors played a rol ....