Autism and psychosis combo aids in understanding perspective

Scimex: Both autism and psychosis-related disorders are associated with difficulties in understanding the perspective of others. Now, a study by UK and Australian authors has unexpectedly found that these difficulties are diminished in individuals who have both disorders, actually making it easier for these people to understand another's perspective.

Autism and psychosis-related disorders affect more than 2% of the world population and lead to marked social and cognitive dysfunctions. These disorders can co-exist in the same individual, but their combined effect on behaviour and cognition remains unknown. Both disorders are associated with difficulties in taking the perspective of others. This study indicates that while increased tendencies for either disorder are associated with perspective-taking difficulties, unexpectedly, these difficulties are diminished in individuals with similar tendency to both disorders. Thus, appropriate use of perspective-taking abilities may be in the balance between the degree of autism tendencies and psychosis proneness.