Use of Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder which has multifactorial etiology. Parents of children diagnosed with ASD often use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) on the grounds that they do not benefit from traditional medical treatments. In this article it is aimed to clarify the definition of CAM, to examine the prevalence of the use of CAM in ASD, to examine the CAM interventions and their efficacy used in ASD, and to review the studies about use of CAM among children diagnosed ASD in Turkey. For this purpose, publications in the Science Citation Index (SCI) and SCI-Expanded, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, DergiPark, TÜBİTAK/ULAKBİM-Turkish Medical Index, Turkish Psychiatry Index and Turkish Medline indexes were reviewed. Although current data on the effectiveness of CAM is limited, considering the usage rates, physicians should be informed about CAM interventions, clearly ask about the use of CAM and share information on the subject.

Keywords

• autism
• autism spectrum disorder
• complementary and alternative medicine
• treatment