To deal with the 'fallout' of these neurological particularities may require treating anxiety, depression, and teaching him or her to psychologically compensate for certain deficits through intensive therapy. The fact that autism is not 'caused' by conventional psychological causes like bad parenting or 'refrigerator mothers' as was once assumed does not mean that psychology and orchestrating the child's environment does not have a role in treating the illness.
The two different approaches can also have a vital function in suggesting the source of specific components of what is considered a psychological illness. Autistic children often have difficulty identifying persons based upon their faces in a manner that is 'normal.' A neuroscientist will study the "specific brain systems" which "allow each person to recognize a face… Social psychologists, by contrast, take the ability to recognize faces and their expressions as a starting point and might ask how each stranger uses that ability to draw inferences about the enduring traits and dispositions of the other" (Lieberman & Ochsner 2001: 717). A neuroscientist can use an MRI to understand the differences in brain activity between autistic and non-autistic persons when they encounter a face and thus explain brain activities involved in automatic recognition. A social psychologist's perspective is required to understand why immediate facial recognition and eye contact is so important in our society, and explain the consequences of what happens when a person lacks this automatic ability. Thus "if one views brain tissue as implementing psychological functions" and also acknowledges the value of psychology in dealing with the consequences...
For example, if only a biological understanding of human psychology is viewed as valid, insurance providers will likely be reluctant to fund supportive counseling for sufferers, which can substantially enhance their quality of the patient's life (Miller & Keller 2000: 214). Often psychological interventions can be more effective and have fewer side effects than pharmaceutical approaches alone, as evidenced in the effective use of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) for anxiety. The two disciplines cannot continue to see one another as in competition for scarce resource dollars and public support; instead they must see themselves as disciplines informing one another. Ultimately, the future of research to improve humanity will benefit from a complementary perspective.
References
Corkin, Suzanne. (et al. 1997). H. M.'s medial temporal lobe lesion: Findings from magnetic resonance imaging Journal of Neuroscience, 17(10):3964 -- 3979
Lieberman, Matthew D. & Ochsner, Kevin N. (2001). The emergence of social cognitive neuroscience. American Psychologist, 56 (9). 717-734
Miller, Gregory & Keller, Jennifer. (2000). Psychology and neuroscience: Making peace.
Current Directions in Psychological Science 9:6: 212-216.
Richmond, Jenny & Nelson, Charles a. (2007). Accounting for change in declarative
memory: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. Dev Rev. 27(3): 349 -- 373
Rosenbaum,…
