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Letter to Psychology Today re: Autism and Mercury

Psychology is a science.  There is nothing scientific about the paper spotlighted by your article. ("Autism and Mercury").  The researchers say they tallied cases of autism, but they tallied diagnoses that are inconsistent with those used in the rest of the world during the same period of time.  Prior to 1994, the diagnoses they used was "psychosis proto-infantilis" from ICD 8, rather than the more appropriate code for "infantile autism."   What are the diagnostic criteria for "psychosis proto-infantilist" and how do they compare with the post-1994 criteria for autism?  (I asked the principal author and he said he did not know what the criteria were--he is not a psychiatrist.)  Is it possible that prior to 1994, they counted some rare congenital disorder that would have nothing to do with thimerosal?   Is it possible that the sharp rise in "autism" resulted from a change in definition in the study?  These are questions that should be raised by a magazine purporting to relay scientific information to the public.

Sincerely, 

Helen Tucker, MA Clinical Psychology