Many Autistic people have symptoms not described in the diagnostic literature

[Mr Allen]

Topic.

Link.

This just came up on my Facebook, thought I'd share it.

 

[Iamnotarabot]

Well i think that , when it comes to diagnosis criteria , you need symtoms that each individual on the spectrum has, and symptoms that are primarely related to ASD.

Then you have all the rest, how our sensory issues works for each of the individual on the spectrum ( i talked about it a lot to my therapist).
How we live modifies how ASD impacts our life...

The anxiety aspect is ofc something to talk about , and everything that comes after ( depression , digestive issues etc) , but this is not a symptom of ASD directly, this is a consequence of the anxiety triggered by ASD .

So for a therapist, He needs to understand if an individual is on the spectrum or if he has other problems, then , if you are on the spectrum, the way your therapist will help you with anxiety will be adapted, i guess.

 

[Catana]

Thanks for the link. It just confirms what I've been thinking about for several years. Physical problems that seem to be common on the spectrum are ignored for one simple reason -- they're physical, not mental, thus of no interest to psychologists. But psychological problems like depression are "side effects," so also of no interest, at least as far as diagnosis is concerned. They can be treated but they aren't inherently a part of autism.

Including all of those that do seem inherent would make official diagnosis that much more of a guessing game. But not integrating them in some useful way leads to what we see now -- people come up with all kinds of "symptoms" that are supposedly indicative of autism.

It reminds me somewhat of how the understanding of fibromyalgia has developed over the years. Early on, I had symptoms that seemed connected, but weren't included in any official list. More symptoms were gradually added to the official list as it was studied more thoroughly. I believe it took a critical number of reports by people with fibro to bring those symptoms to the attention of researchers and make it clear that fibro had many more symptoms than the original few required for diagnosis. I think it will take work by people actually on the spectrum to broaden and clarify the understanding of autism.