Very interesting GitHub article on why empathy matters here.
20180803/https://github.community/t5/Studies-in-Community/Why-empathy-matters/ba-p/10492?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ww-commcommunity-forum-aug18
Debunking myths! Different conditions here, autism and alexithymia. The point here is that alexithymia tends to be correlated with any mental disorder, “eating disorders, depression, substance abuse, schizophrenia and many other psychiatric and neurological conditions.” However, the diagnosis must be understood to be separate from all those other conditions. Autism and alexithymia are only correlated 50% of the time, so making the assumption means that you are wrong 50% of the time.
20180803/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-with-autism-can-read-emotions-feel-empathy1/
Wow, this is really interesting: Childhood disintegrative disorder, or CDD. The mental deviation that has no traceable signs from either genetics or brain scans that differentiate it from a normal human brain. Rather, all signs point to that of a human brain of an equivalent neurotypical 2-year old or similar. And yet this is now classified as a sub-form of the autism spectrum; even though the surface-level observation makes it look similar to autism, deeper inspection shows that it is apparently nothing like typical autism.
Indeed, the human brain is this great puzzle that nobody really fully understands yet.
20180803/https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/the-most-terrifying-childhood-condition-youve-never-heard-of/