The Problem Is Not That Taking Tylenol During Pregnancy Causes Autism. The Problem Is Not Recognizing the Major Psychiatric Advances in Addressing Autism!

Birch Photography/AdobeStock

PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

With a popular request, let’s comment on Tylenol taken in pregnancy and ensuing autism. What a difference 50 years makes!

I remember the times well. Although I am not a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I have led and managed large not-for-profit academic systems of care for quality of care.¹

Over 50 years ago, when I was starting my career in psychiatry, autism seemed untreatable and emotionally cold, “refrigerator” mothers were erroneously blamed, as mothers often are when we do not understand what is happening with children.

To update to autism today, it may be best to reference some European studies given the political practice of medicine in the United States.² Now, it can be scientifically concluded, the much wider spectrum of diagnosing autism, not the use of Tylenol, better reflects understanding of the tendency of increased autism. Moreover, the social acceptance of more neurodiversity has helped integration into society. Treatment has improved with behavioral interventions and school adjustments.

Mothers are thankfully no longer blamed, but heroic in their quest for help. When pregnant, real scientific research has come to show that Tylenol, used carefully, is the only safe option to reduce undue pain and fever, both of which are potentially very medically dangerous in their own right to the fetus.

Vaccines have also turned out not to be the culprit. The culprit seems to be multifactorial, including air pollution, and science as usual proceeds slowly—often in stops and starts—in finding the truth and causation.

Complicating the advances in science is political science denial, a kind of alternative science perspective propagated by politicians and internet dark corners. The placebo effect sometimes helps, too, but usually only a little and temporarily. Human nature also makes us vulnerable to "snake oil” salesmen when fearful and worried.

Instead of toasting pseudoscience, let us praise the real helpers:

- Praise the advances of psychiatrists

- Praise the persistence of mothers

- Praise the involved fathers

- Praise the social pathways for the value of neurodiversity

- Praise the skills of special educators

- Praise be those who know how to speak acceptable truth to power

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

References

1. Moffic HS. The Ethical Way: Challenges and Solutions for Mananged Behavioral Healthcare. Jossey-Bass; 1997.

2. Qin L, Wang H, Ning W, et al. New advances in the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders. Eur J Med Res. 2024;29(10):322.

3. Chung F. Paracetamol, pregnancy and autism: what the science really shows. The Conversation UK. September 23, 2025. Accessed September 25, 2025. https://theconversation.com/paracetamol-pregnancy-and-autism-what-the-science-really-shows-265875