Book excerpt: In From Fragmentation to Coherence, the author Sacha van Rood presents a theory for the genesis of autism and the disorder known as "derealization/depersonalization" by demonstrating the connections between them and tracing the roots to events in early childhood. She discusses the crucial importance of creating a functional perception of reality in the early months and years of life, and the environmental conditions that must be present for this process to succeed. She identifies certain factors in modern lifestyles that may hamper the creation of a functional perception of reality, leading in the most extreme cases to a disastrous rupturing of a child's development. Van Rood's theory, which gives an explanation for the experience of unreality that is intrinsic to derealization and depersonalization, also suggests possible paths to the prevention -- and in some cases possibly even a cure -- for the disorder known as autism.