Do You Think That Abuse Can Cause Asperger's Syndrome?

[mordant]

Asperger's is a sub-spectrum of the autism spectrum disorders and it has things in common with other disorders and constellations of personality characteristics. It probably gets both over and under diagnosed. My son and stepson both have a touch of it according to the diagnosis of at least one professional during their lives. Both function quite well, my stepson better so far than my son but neither of them requiring treatment badly enough that it is worth the expense. They'd both get more help if it were better insured and if the system just generally worked better and society were less stigmatizing about mental health care.

Asperger's is not itself caused by abuse but it makes people who have it more fragile / vulnerable to stressors including abuse. I suppose that someone with the genes for a mild case of Asperger's might slip into the condition if abuse caused those genes to express where maybe in an ideal world they might not. I imagine that some kinds of abuse, accident or injury could cause neurological and psychological damage that would be very similar to Asperger's.

So the answer is, technically no, but in practice, maybe but it depends. Like most answers in the Real World (tm).