Autism treatment

Very specifically I have a friend who has a 24 year old son with autism. Aspergers. Basically he has the classic one track mind that focusses on some very specific thing. His topic of conversation is himself. I mean, this is true of basically everyone, but most of us manage to talk about ourselves in ways that other people get something from. Not him. Rather like some other mentally ill people his self obsession is not about the human condition, its just about him, and so its draining.

His behaviour has always been challenging, and as an adult its downright dangerous. He's fought with both his parents and that his Mum hasn't been seriously hurt is down mainly to luck.  So he's now part of the mental health system. But they don't know what to do with him. They argue that he doesn't have a mental illness because he is not psychotic. He doesn't hear voices. He's not bipolar, at least not in the classic way of having mania and depression. So the mental health profession want his problems to be considered "behavioural".

So lets go through the behaviour.

1. He's got the classic autism one track mind.
2. That track often turns out to be about something really important to him - like losing his virginity.
3. He catastrophises. Not only is he a virgin now, but he always will be. And having sex is the whole point of life. And he's going to die unfulfilled.
4. As he catastrophises he gets anxious. "What if I never have sex?" "Can you imagine how awful that will be for me?" And as he can't let go out of his deep groove, his anxiety becomes more and more uncomfortable until..
5. His impulse control is gone and...
6. He hits someone or some thing.

And he can't seem to learn, because he doesn't seem to have any control over these things.

I figure that if you can eliminate any of these stages you can improve his chances of not needing to be locked up for the safety of others.

Its not likely that you can fix 1. He's been like this since he was less than 2 years old. But there are mind altering drugs (e.g. marijuana) that might diminish the control of that part of his brain that enforces his "one track mind" and leaves him more open to the experience of his senses.

And I don't think 2 will be amenable either. But maybe this is defeatist thinking. What if there is a way to stop people engaging in an unhealthy obsession with themselves?

3 is a possibility. What is the process of catastrophising? Why do some people do it but others don't? Is there any treatment?

4 - can we control the anxiety?  In the extremes of his anxiety he is probably feeling like you would if confronted by a vicious dog. Terrified and willing to do pretty well whatever it takes to defeat the monster.  So do we drug him so that he wouldn't feel like running away if confronted by a tiger?

5. Can anything be done to improve his impulse control? Again, imagine the terror of being attacked by a wild dog. Now try controlling your impulses. Not really going to work.

6. You just need to stop before you get this far.

It seems to me that you need to interrupt the processes in 1, 2 or 3. After that the sort of drugs you'd need would be too powerful.

Ideas anyone?