Salutogenesis, Sense of Coherence and Autism Spectrum Disorder: What do we know?

Description

Page: 434-437

J. Jenita Caren Rajakumari¹ and Meena Ramanathan² (School of Music Therapy, Institute of Salutogenesis and Complementary Medicine, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, Puducherry¹ and School of Yoga Therapy, Institute of Salutogenesis and Complementary Medicine, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, Puducherry²)

This article enables to understand Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the context of Salutogenesis, coined by Prof. Antonovsky wherein the focus is on the origins of health and wellness consisting of Sense of Coherence (SoC) as its key concept. ASD is a neuropsychiatric developmental disorder with impairments in social, communicative, and behavioural domains. Every individual gets placed anywhere between total wellness and total illness and hence individuals with ASD can find relevance in this context. Antonovsky’s perception of life was to view chaos and change as a normal state, in which individuals with ASD face issues. This can account to be one of the ways to explain how SoC is impaired in individuals with ASD. There is paucity of literature when it comes to the measurement of SoC in individuals with ASD though there are studies which have documented SoC in parents and siblings of children with ASD. This article emphasizes the need for tools to measure the levels of SoC in individuals with ASD which may aid in enhancing the available management approaches as well.