The Myth of Autism: How a Misundersood Epidemic Is Destroying Our Children [Hardcover]

While some of the information that the authors provide here is commonly available elsewhere, what I especially like about this text is that Michael J. Goldberg shares a lot of information from his practice at a personal level while providing much of the science behind what he has come to do over the years, as opposed to some other books in this genre which have a lot of case studies, but not much science. As the father of a child diagnosed with autism, I have read quite a few books, as well as many medical journal articles, since most physicians are usually considerably behind on keeping up with the research, and I consider "The Myth of Autism: How a Misunderstood Epidemic is Destroying Our Children" simply among the best texts of this genre that have been written, even though it can be a bit arduous to read at times.

In many aspects, I consider this book an extension to "Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders" by Kenneth Bock (see my review), but Goldberg discusses a lot of matters that are never touched in that earlier work. While many in the autism community already understand by now that autism is a medical condition, Goldberg discusses at length many of the root issues that other authors have not approached, such as the very meaning of "autism" itself. While "The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine, and a Man-made Epidemic" by Dan Olmsted (see my review) traces the history of autism from the original landmark 1943 report by Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Leo Kanner on 11 children born in the 1930s, Goldberg goes to great lengths to explain that the original autism cases differ from most modern cases.

And prior to discussing in detail "The Goldberg Approach" to evaluation and treatment of autism within chapter 7, the heart of the book, Goldberg explains a new diagnostic tool for understanding the brain that has emerged over the past two decades called "NeuroSPECT" (single photon emission computed tomography), which he uses as part of this medical approach. NeuroSPECT is a sophisticated nuclear medicine study that looks directly at the cerebral blood flow in the brain and indirectly at brain activity. Goldberg reflects that "when I first began looking at these disorders, it was becoming obvious that the common link with the brain was the immune system. As a clinician, I will state strongly that nothing else could make sense and tie the various presentations together except a common denominator, the brain-immune system", and "the NeuroSPECT objectively showed blood flow in the brain, which translates accurately to function". Appendix A shows NeuroSPECT imaging before and after treatment of one patient, and the multiple areas of decreased perfusion and decreased function in the brain visualized as "holes" in the brain are significantly cleared following treatment.

Goldberg presents a significant amount of material, and if you have a vested interest in understanding autism or other related disorders such as CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), this book is well worth a read even if you do not agree with everything that he has to share. Actually, this book challenged me because some of what Goldberg presents is at odds with other researchers, and in my opinion it is important to get a balanced perspective when so much is at stake. Outside the actual explanations that the author provides, the boldness with which he proclaims his opinions is refreshing, not to mention the parent stories in Appendix B. For example, in discussing her daughter, one parent writes that "they told us there was no 'cure', it was a 'developmental disorder', and that she would never be like other children. Our best option would be to get her into the best behavioral program we could find. That was it. They did no medical workup whatsoever. These were top Boston doctors in top Boston hospitals. When I asked about special diets or immune system problems or anything that may have been metabolical or biological, they dismissed every bit of it. Pretty soon we dismissed them."

A review of this book in just a few short paragraphs is difficult, but some of Goldberg's remarks simply need to be shared here. In chapter 11, Goldberg writes that "it has become obvious over the years, many errors, misdirections in research have occurred, but looking back, the mistakes have occurred in spite of good intentions by contributors and parents. We all grew up, and I was trained with a strong belief in our 'ivory towers'. As echoed in the Hollywood community, in theory this was the era in which 'there was no disease we couldn't solve with enough funding'. It is obvious to me and to many frantic parents by now that our 'ivory towers', the main medical focus led by psychiatrists (as noted, these disorders as defined decades ago were not considered to have primary medical issues/problems), and all the money to date, have not remotely helped solve the real crisis, a true medical crisis facing these children and adults. The situation is so bad, so controlled, that I have been told multiple times that in major institutions, if you want to study developmental or genetics, you will likely be funded (look at all the money raised, and added to this system by congress and private support groups), but if you want to study immune or viral, not only should you not expect funding, but you may be reprimanded (bad judgment if not a very high up researcher) or even let go. Somehow, that does not resemble the medical or academic world I was exposed to or have believed in."

Earlier, in chapter 7, during his discussion of the role of diet elimination and reduction of allergy-related stresses, Goldberg comments that "the idea of removing dairy was not always an accepted practice. It has been a sad point for medicine that if we cannot conclusively document or prove with markers what is happening to the body, the medical profession is all too quick to dismiss it. I had professors who taught me to think, question, understand, and be skeptical. Sadly we have entered an era of medicine in which you do A, B, C, and D, but if you do not respond to ABCD, you are often out of luck or considered to be psychosomatic. We are in a world in which the general pediatrician has to be very cautious, very afraid of doing anything not dictated as correct by the AAP or his or her local medical society." Well said.

As other reviewers have commented, Dr. Goldberg's pronouncement of autism as a medical disease is truly groundbreaking and extremely important. For anyone who has every watched a child suffer from this condition, Dr. Goldberg offers more than just hope; he offers a cure. By attacking autism as an actual medical disease, autism, and it's spectrum, can actually be cured. This is huge. Too many doctors and psychologists view autism as something psychological and therefore do not get to the root cause of this devasting disease. However, Dr. Goldberg boldly (and correctly) asserts that this medical condition is tied to inflammation and can be diagnosed, treated, and, most importantly, corrected.

I cannot overstate the significance of how viewing autism as a medical condition offers hope to those afflicted and/or impacted by this disease. Dr. Goldberg explains the science behind his assumptions, and even if you do not have a science or medical background (I do not), he makes his finding accessible. Moreover, he has been in practice for over 30 years and shares numerous first person accounts of how he has treated this disease. It is a case study over the years of how the medical profession's thinking about autism has changed.

Dr. Goldberg introduces the reader to new ways of diagnosing autism using sophisticated, new technology that can capture changes in the brain (a neuro-imaging technique that he explains quite well, but that a review cannot adequately describe).

After all, if one does not understand the root cause of a problem or disease, then how can it really be treated effectively? Dr. Goldberg attacks the myths and panic behind autism and sets out to first correctly understand the causes of this medical condition, and, second, treat the disease with the right set of "tools." And, as his patients prove, he has had a tremendous amount of success. One can feel the emotion when parents discuss restored hope for their children.

This book will really change your thinking on what exactly makes autism so hard to treat. A personal book with enough science and case studies to really challenge the unfortunate myths behind autism that keep too many children sick for far too long. Thank you Dr. Goldberg for having the courage to challenge the medical orthodoxy.

I am not a doctor. I kept thinking that as I read this book and realized that I do not have the medical background to really know if what this author is proposing is medically plausible or just a bunch of medical sounding mumbo jumbo. It sounds very logical and promising, but over and over throughout my reading of this book, I found myself realizing that I don't have the medical knowledge to judge if what the author is saying is really correct and I worry that parents of autistic children may read it and think it is correct and start demanding the medications recommended in the book for their children, when in reality, it may not be correct.

What the author means by calling autism a myth is that the huge group of symptoms that is now called the autism spectrum does not fit the original definition of autism as defined by Kanner. Kanner's autism is a developmental disorder that is present from birth. Today's autism spectrum includes children that start out "normal" and then lose the language that they had learned and stop interacting with other people.
This author's theory is that Autism, ADHD, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are all caused by a herpes virus in the brain. He calls them all "NIDS - Neuro imune dysfunction syndromes, a set of related disorders characterized by complex interactions between the nervous system and the immune system."
He proposes that what is diagnosed as autism today does not fit the original definition of autism.
He also claims that autism and ADHD have increased at a rate in the past few years that is only seen in a viral outbreak. He uses a new diagnostic tool to look at the brain called NeuroSpect and treats autism with a combination of an elimination diet, antiviral medications, antifungal medications when needed, and SSRI medication - serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft or Celexa. He claims that many of the "treatments" that have been used on autistic children including chelation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy can actually damage a child's brain. (I can believe that.) His book ends with many wonderful testimonials, but all "snake oil" type treatments and herbal supplements etc... are sold with sparkling testimonials so I just don't trust that.

I found his dietary elimination ideas to be different than others that I have heard about. He claims that cow's milk and whole wheat and other whole grains are big allergens and that if cows only grazed on grass rather than eating grain, perhaps the dairy allergies and sensitivities might not be so bad, which kind of makes sense. He then claims, however, that whole wheat and other whole grains are allergens and that processed wheat - like white bread, causes less allergies - the more processed the better. That is just counter intuitive to healthy eating. I wonder if soaking and sprouting whole grains would also lessen the allergic effects?
His theory and treatment sounds promising and I would like to see it examined further by the medical community.

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