Theory finds that individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome don’t lack empathy – in fact if anything they empathize too much

This is right on. Sensory Processing Disorder, one of the symptoms of autism, handles the other senses similarly. In ADHD, you would think the problem is that the brain is too awake, when the real problem is that a key part of the brain is basically asleep and needs waking. I’m very excited about this article.

Seventh Voice

Art work by Aegis Mario S. Nevado

“A ground-breaking theory suggests people with autism-spectrum disorders such as Asperger’s do not lack empathy – rather, they feel others’ emotions too intensely to cope.”

“People with Asperger’s syndrome, a high functioning form of autism, are often stereotyped as distant loners or robotic geeks. But what if what looks like coldness to the outside world is a response to being overwhelmed by emotion – an excess of empathy, not a lack of it?

This idea resonates with many people suffering from autism-spectrum disorders and their families. It also jibes with the “intense world” theory, a new way of thinking about the nature of autism.

As posited by Henry and Kamila Markram of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, the theory suggests that the fundamental problem in autism-spectrum disorders is not a social deficiency but, rather, a hypersensitivity to experience…

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