When I read that Courtney Love (Harrison) was diagnosed as having “signs of autism” at age 9, it occurs to me that having a really fucked up childhood will create a lot of the same symptoms. Emotional dissociation, particularly, is a de facto symptom of autism, but has nothing to do with the disorder per se. Autism is genetic. It is in the bones and blood and DNA. Trauma is not.
Dissociated people have trouble connecting with others for the simple reason that that part of their brain was short-circuited at some point. How could any child trust a mother like that? But if the psychologist was a hippy too, as they likely were at that time in Portland, how could they tell the mother “You need to fucking grow up and create a stable home for this child.”?
I see bullshit everywhere. It is my blessing and my curse.