Many parents of autistic children continue to wrongly blame
themselves, says Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, who himself is
father to a child with the condition
For 10 years, controversy has raged over alleged links between
the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) and autism. We have
heard much from anxious parents pondering whether to have their
babies immunised. We have heard too from parents involved in the
ill-fated litigation against the manufacturers of the vaccine,
which collapsed in 2003 when the campaign failed to show any
evidence of a link with autism.
But, until now, we have not heard from parents of children with
autism who are not involved in the campaign against the
vaccination. It is extraordinary that, nearly 10 years after Dr
Andrew Wakefield suggested a link between the vaccine and autism,
the first study to consider the impact of this controversy on
families of children with autism has only just been published.
Shona Hilton and colleagues at the Medical Research Council's
public health unit in Glasgow interviewed 38 parents in 10 focus
group discussions between 2003 and 2005 to explore how the MMR
controversy has affected the lives of those caring for children
with autism. They found that, in general, it has "had a negative
impact" on parents. Dr Hilton reports: "We found that many parents
felt guilty that they may have caused or contributed to their
child's autism."
One mother quoted in the report said: "Everyone always says 'Oh,
you can't blame yourself', but I do blame myself. And I should
blame myself, because I should have looked into that I should have
questioned that before I took my child along to get them
injected."
One of the most damaging consequences of the campaign is the
way in which it has brought parents back full circle to the guilt
and self-recrimination experienced by an earlier generation of
parents as a result of the influence of now discredited
psychodynamic mother/father-blaming theories.
The Glasgow study also found that some parents are frustrated by
health professionals' lack of understanding of the negative impact
that the MMR controversy has had on families. The authors
acknowledge the key role of health visitors in providing
information and support to parents, and emphasise the importance of
ensuring adequate training in communication skills.
For Dr Hilton, to counteract the effects of the fears provoked
by unsubstantiated claims about the vaccine, it is "imperative that
the latest research findings are disseminated quickly to parents
and professionals".
As both the parent of a child with autism and as a GP to
affected families, I have been struck by the fact that, while
parents can readily gain access to junk science on the internet,
quality science often remains buried in obscure journals.
At last, this study has allowed the silent majority of parents
of children to be heard. I hope that all professionals involved
with families affected by autism will listen and learn.
Dr Michael Fitzpatrick is a GP in the London Borough of
Hackney
Further information
MMR: Marginalised, Misrepresented and Rejected? Autism: a Focus
Group Study, by Shona Hilton, Kate Hunt and Mark Petticrew, is
published in Archives of Disease in Childhood vol 92. To contact Dr
Hilton, call the MRC press office on 020 7637 6011 or 07818
428297