6.5.3 Habitual regression in the LAD and NAD: allergy and neurosis
When does an (agonistic) regression become a permanent learned feature? With respect to the immune system we know that about 15 % of the entire population has a hereditary tendency to develop allergies for common constituents of the environment such as grass pollen and dust produced by the excrements and remains of house mites. This tendency is called atopy and depending on the "learning history" of the patients' immune system it may or may not become manifest. When exposure to antigens is gradual and in moderate doses, especially when the breast-fed infant is still under the protection of maternal antibodies, the immune cognition has a good chance to develop well. If such is the case antigens will be met by properly differentiated antibody-responses without allergic interference.
With respect to the neuronal system we assume that, analogous to the 15 % atopics in the population, there is a similar proportion of vulnerable people who are prone to neuroticism. An exact percentage cannot be given, since symptoms of neuroticism are not sharply defined. According to H.Eysenck, these people have a nervous system that is easily tired. In order to protect themselves against overstimulation they will resort more readily to introversion. A well administered course of stress-immunisation may prevent the development of neurotic fears or attitudes. Care must be taken that stressors are administered in such quantities as the child can manage. This means for example that they may suffer separation from their mother for short periods, and then, when this can be tolerated, for gradually longer periods, never exceeding the child's limits. Introvert infants are more vulnerable than their extravert counterparts, who thrive on stimulation and excitement. When, as happens all too easily in introverted children, the limits of tolerance are regularly exceeded, agonistic behaviour that should have been reserved for moments of emergency, becomes a part of daily life. Then regressive agonistic behaviour becomes a habit and for these children it is their only defence to survive the pressures of the environment. "Nervousness" then can be defined as a tendency to fall back into agonistic behaviour patterns. The tendency is learned, on the basis of genetic probability. Fortunately this also means that it can be prevented by proper management, that is: careful immunisation for stress.
Consider the following examples. Early bonding (attachment) to the caregiver offers protection for risk-free personal development, just as maternal immune-globulines during the period of breast feeding offer protection for gradual immune development. Unfortunately, there are circumstances under which mother and child fail to develop mutual attachment: birth in a strictly regimented clinic (early separation), illness of the mother, hospitalisation of the mother or the child. Failure of bonding during infancy is a heavy risk for normal development. Yet another risk factor that is little known was discovered by us. We have evidence that an early atopic eczema and/or bronchial wheezing has been the only demonstrable cause of developmental brain dysfunctions. It seems at first sight an unlikely connection. In the light of the attachment theory the consequences of eczema and bronchial obstruction can however become meaningful. A painful skin eruption puts a heavy strain on the mother-child relationship. Touching and caressing, which normally delights a baby and confirms its identity, is by reason of the tenderness of the skin transformed into a highly disagreeable form of contact. Handling the baby, normally a positive but now a painful experience, provokes aversion and avoidance responses on the part of the child. Bonding is a reciprocal process, and a mother who has been rejected repeatedly by her baby is profoundly disoriented and unhappy. If the eczematous condition lasts for more than a few weeks, irreversible emotional damage may already have occurred on both sides of the mother-child dyad.
We have heard similar observations from families with a wheezing child. Mothers were worried or felt sorry for their babies, and found it impossible to be as cheerful and happy as they used to be when the baby was healthy. Instead of a bond of mutual rejoicing there is anxiety and apprehension. Also, when professional caretakers take over the responsibility or the child, the mother's caring instinct is frustrated, and may even fail to develop. In extreme cases the mother will feel helpless and resort to an abnormal coping style. If nothing is done to prevent it this can start off a negative circle of persistently damaging relationships. These observations carry weight, since measures can be taken to prevent atopy and neuroticism.
The vicious circle of a damaging development can be prevented by intervening in the somatic as well as in the emotional-behavioural part of it. Atopy in infants has been prevented by anticipating its development. One should be prepared for allergy for cow's milk or egg-proteins in any pregnancy where the father or mother is known to have an atopic constitution. Controlled trials have shown the favourable effect of giving the baby enough time to develop his own immune competence while under the protection of the immune globulines from his mother's breast feeding. When both parents are atopic the child is likely to have a strong genetic tendency towards atopy. In that case the mother will do well to refrain completely from taking in egg- and cow's milk proteins, as their constituents may pass the placental barrier and sensitise the baby. Once the child is sensitised it is unlikely that the over-reactivity can be reduced unless an allergen-free diet is observed for a considerable time, after which a very careful and gradual re-exposure to the antigen may be attempted.
The neural analogy to immune competence is resistance to traumatic life events, including the skills to cope with daily life. Earlier in this paragraph we have used the term stress-immunisation. The term has originally been used by Poser for a form of treatment in adult psychiatric patients. Stress-immunisation as used in the present context is the habituation to and successful handling of stressful events in the every life of a normal child. It is more than habituation, it is learning to cope with stress. We have mentioned the example of separation. If a child has been separated from it's mother for short periods only, always having been reassured by her immediate reappearance on it's calling or crying for her, it will tolerate gradually longer periods of separation. It has learned to cope by anticipating her return. A child on the contrary who has felt betrayed on one or more occasions and has suffered a great deal of anxiety and desolation, may have lost his basic trust. He can feel lost and forlorn on the slightest provocation and resort to agonism: fight, flight or withdrawal. It may then be hard to reestablish a bond of basic trust.
The condition is even more difficult in the case of pseudo-tolerance to stress. There is cause for alarm when a child does not seem to notice or is indifferent to situations which seem threatening or dangerous to most other children. Not only are stress signals ignored, but the appropriate response: crying, an appeal for help, signs of distress, cannot be provoked. If such is the case, the normal circuit of emergency-responses has failed to develop, a neuronal development, that can be compared to pseudo-tolerance in the lymphoid network. The internal image of the self in relation to the environment is profoundly disturbed.
We assume that in a number of cases of childhood autism the normal process of stress immunisation has not taken place. The child, for want of normal coping skills, has regressed to abnormal lines of resistance around his vulnerable self. Do not hear, do not see, do not speak, and one can live in comparative safety. We have seen syndromes of abnormal withdrawal, sometimes with traits of autism, in sensorially or physically impaired children. Instead of a regression to a more primitive line of defence we have seen an inhibition or arrest of growth of personality spheres that are needed for developing speech and language. Therefore the study of language retardation includes the study of early learning and emotional growth.