What do you all think of MCDD

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Or Multiple Complex Developmental disorder?

Do you think it is a valid diagnosis?
An invalid diagnosis due to lack of inclusion in the DSM or ICD?

and

is it adequate, or too vague a diagnosis?

And, in general, what are your personal opinions about it?

Citations are highly welcome, and strongly recommended, but not a prerequisite for discussion.

So far I understand the theory is that the brain is between autism and schizophrenia in this patients. So simmilar to schizoaffective if you will. But in McDD you show the psychotic symptoms since early on so far I'm informend.
I think it's a valid diagnosis, especially because in this case the psychotic symptoms seems more part of the brain development, since they start very early on.

Here is a site about it: mcdd.webs

MCDD is a Developmental Disorder with symptoms that can be divided into three groups
A. Regulation of emotion. (Affective symptoms) – two or more of the following.
1. Depressive symptoms such as consistent depressed mood, feelings of sadness or emptiness, thoughts of death, little interest or pleasure in activities, chronic fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or guilt.
2. Manic symptoms such as racing thoughts, irritability, distractibility, psychomotor agitation, impulsivity, sleep disturbances, feelings of grandiosity or extreme self worth, risky behavior.
3. Anxious symptoms such as recurrent panic, intense inappropriate anxiety, dissociation, diffuse tension, paranoia, unusual fears and phobias that are peculiar in content or in intensity.
4. Severely impaired regulation of feelings.
5. Significant and wide emotional variability with or without environmental precipitants.

B. Consistent impairments in social behavior and development (Autistic symptoms) - at least two from (A) and one from (B) or (C).
(A) Qualitative impairment in social interaction.
1. Marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction
2. Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
3. A lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people
4. Lack of social or emotional reciprocity
(B) Qualitative impairments in communication.
1. Delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime)
2. In individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
3. Stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language
4. Lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level
(C) Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities.
1. Encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
2. Apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
3. Stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms
4. Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

C. Impaired cognitive processing (psychotic symptoms) – two or more of the following.
1. Delusions, including fantasies of personal omnipotence, thought insertion, paranoid preoccupations, overengagement with fantasy figures, grandiose fantasies of special powers, referential ideation, and confusion between fantasy and real life.
2. Hallucinations and/or unusual perceptual experiences.
3. Negative symptoms (anhedonia, affective flattening, alogia, or avolition)
4. Disorganized or catatonic behavior such as thought disorder symptoms, easy confusability, inappropriate emotions/facial expressions, uncontrollable laughter, etc.
5. Disorganized speech.

Other possible symptoms (does not count for diagnosis)
Poor Sensory Integration
Poor Motor Skills
Compulsive behavior
Tics
Learning Disorders
Difficulty making decisions
Difficulty expressing self
Literal concrete thinking
Poor concentration



Here something from Yale: Multiplex Developmental Disorder

Nevertheless, there are some children who display the severe, early-appearing social and communicative deficits characteristic of autism who ALSO display some of the emotional instability and disordered thought processes that resemble schizophrenic symptoms. Cohen, et al. (1986) coined the term Multiplex Developmental Disorder (MDD) to describe these children, although they are often given a diagnosis of PDD-NOS by clinicians who may be unfamiliar with this terminology. Unlike schizophrenia, MDD symptoms emerge in earliest childhood, often in the first years of life, and persist throughout development.

I think that it is a totally legit diagnosis, based entirely on the fact that it is the only thing I have ever found that perfectly describes my mother. I've theorized that she is somehow autistic, schizophrenic and narcissistic all at once. Of course, this seems highly unlikely based on the information on co-morbidity that is floating around out there. Multiple complex developmental disorder, however does link all of these conditions together.