Is aspergers a fad diagnosis?

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I hear people talking about it being over-diagnosed all the time on the Internet, but I don't see that in real life.

Dude... twenty years ago, they shoved them in institutions. Nowadays, they've got half a chance of staying out of them. Granted, there are a lot of autistics in group homes, nursing homes, and mental hospitals still; but it seems like things are getting at least somewhat better. And Asperger's? Well, we're actually being recognized as existing. That's a bonus despite the drawbacks.

And no, AS isn't a fad diagnosis. I think some people on the borderline are being diagnosed when they shouldn't be; but that happens to any high-profile disorder. It happens with depression all the time, simply because people know about it, and those with subthreshold symptoms get diagnosed with depression because the doctors forget that you have to be in significant distress--not just bummed out for a week or two. But I'd much rather, at this point, we have overdiagnosis than underdiagnosis. There's less potential damage in a false diagnosis where none is needed, than in not having a diagnosis when one should exist.

I get what you're saying, but, honestly, I think that's going to happen regardless of whether or not AS is a "fad diagnosis."

In the United States, having a disability that can't be "seen" is much like not having one at all as far as the general public thinks. Unless you're rocking in a corner, drooling, and have to be institutionalized, people are going to expect you to have a job and fit in with society. Period. And people whining about other people getting "free money from the government" is practically a national obsession. In casual conversations, I've known folks who want to dismiss all of psychology as some big scheme for people trying to obtain welfare benefits. Self-righteousness knows no bounds.

As for "fad diagnosises," I'm not a doctor, so I can't comment on whether someone "really" has AS or not, especially if I've never met them. I also lack relevant statistics and data. IMHO, Asperger's is simply more in the media these days. As to why that is, I highly suspect it's because rich white people have kids with AS, and whatever is afflicting rich white people is considered "important" by the media. That's not to say these kids don't have AS, just I doubt it would be as fascinating if AS was limited to African American children living in inner-city ghettos. I base this theory on the fact most every time I see AS depicted on TV, it's inevitably some rich little white boy with good services, educated parents, and a school with an IEP in place. Just sayin'.

Lastly, I think there is a certain "romantic" element to mental disorders, including AS. AS is thought to confer great intellectual gifts in math and science and make people super-logical. As for myself, I'm horrid at math, am not a "visual thinker," and only posses useless skills. NTs are more than welcome to have my particular version of AS and learn the sad truth of being a social outcast with none of the perks.

--XFG

Yea.. in that sense USA is much different.

I know a lot of people struggle, as you say, everyone without a visible handicap. I know people in USA who have very severe bipolar and some who have schizophrenia, they are just loaded up with 7-10 different meds (that doesn't happen here) so they can work. Work work work work work!

Those with Asperger's in USA must be so much stronger than me, I'd be dead long ago. I don't mean to sound depressing or... it's just a whole different world.

Well its easy to imagine an AS epidemic when their is so much false information out there. Such as whoever wrote the information for this site here.

http://autism.lovetoknow.com/What_Is_th ... nd_PDD-NOS

"A person with Aspergers typically has an impressive vocabulary that he can use on a functional level, but communication becomes confusing when language is used to communicate experiences. This is especially troublesome when it comes to humor, metaphors and figurative language. These must be taught deliberately and systematically."

Since it makes the uninformed claim that people with Aspergers have better vocabularies than the rest of us. (or uses the word impressive in a vague and unhelpfully misleading way) we can assume that the author doesn't know what he/she is talking about.

I do notice that a number of people who post here seem to have a very sophisticated sense of humor/sense of irony. Which belies what I read here, these are not people who needed those skils "systematically" taught to them. Furthermore some people with Aspergers have high IQs. A person with a high IQ will invariably be able to have some degree of mastery over metaphor and figurative language because those are abstract abilities and a capacity for highly developed abstract thought is part of what it means to have a high IQ.


Yet what I read on that site is actually very typical of the popular literature on Aspergers.

You are correct about the comparison to depression which also gets overdiagnosed. However Autism is not like depression in the sense that it requires more resources to treat. People get on meds like prozac and stay on them for 6 months and then get off of them.

I'm sure many people (some of which are probably NT's) feel trapped in a prison and locked in their own heads, screaming. I'm autistic and I'm not screaming.

My understanding was that the larger vocabulary is true. To my mind it actually makes a great deal of sense, not being able to describe your experience to others, you seek to know an ever increasing number of words in a vein attempt to be able to explain things better.

It goes along with having special interests as well, you pick up a large number of technical terms as part of this process.



If I'm not mistaken, a above average IQ is one of the diagnostic requirements. However there is usually very uneven skill development, causing very high IQ scores in some areas and very low IQ scores in other. People make the assumption that having one skill implies another, this may true for people who develop evenly, but is not true for everybody.

Yes, you are definitely mistaken about the above average IQ requirement.

I'm 42, and I was diagnosed at 3. An institution was EXACTLY what was recommended to my mom. This is one aspect that has improved over the last 20 years, but it is one of a very few.

I don't have the data to be able to comment on the legitimacy of diagnosis.

However the almost 50 years that I have lived with pervasive social impairment is certainly NOT a fad

Nope, it is not. I know some people who have AS such as myself and it can be an extreme struggle to live with this condition. Also, I noticed that some people were saying ADHD or Bipolar Disorder are fad diagnoses. Perhaps these conditions are being overdiagnosed.. but the people who legitimately suffer of these conditions know what a struggle it can be. I had to take an introductory psychology course as part of a BSc in Biology and some of these conditions seem unbearable, especially since I was often depressed/anxious before treatment as part of living with AS, and knowing how it can get even worse than it was for me.

You get what you pay for, and that is obvious in the demographics of autism and Asperger's: people who can pay to be assessed and people who see some resource benefit from a diagnosis go and get diagnosed.

So yes, there is a fad amongst wealthier people to get diagnosed and benefit from school special education etc, but it remains hugely underdiagnosed overall (especially amongst older people).

Most of the world's population has no diagnosis facilities for Asperger's or autism, and no resources for people with autism.

Well you are "undiagnosed" for AS. So, what the hell do you know about the condition. Get a diagnosis, a little alone time and the screaming will start up. Its not a nice thing to be diagnosed, but hey, some a**hole doctor would do it just to make your life hell.

Well, the problem is that AS and other disorders were not commonly known and people were not informed enough to take care of it or diagnose it. Even for learning disorders, and it's still a problem for people who have difficulties but succeed in working with them (until they fail). I know that people who have dyspraxia, dyscalculia or any other learning/development disorder but have a high IQ or are intelligent enough to deal with it and hide it by learning things their own way (intelligence cannot be measured by IQ) are usually harder to diagnosed as child.

I was diagnosed with dyspraxia at 20 (well, it's quite recent), some people thought it couldn't be true because I always succeeded at school and was 'too old' to be abnormal. It's less tricky to diagnose dyspraxia because the signs are obvious (especially since my dyspraxia is not mild at all though even my best friend won't believe me).

As you said, "enough problems" is subjective. People who didn't know me when I was a kid or a teenager may think that I have no reason to seek psychological help or to have asked for a diagnosis (dyspraxia) but my dyspraxia had been suspected when I was a baby and I have been beaten by other kids at school, always had the poorest results in "autonomy" and "social skills" in primary school, my parents have been asked to see a psychologist with me when I was 5 years old because I wasn't social enoguh and I wasn't mature enough for a my age. Now, I just hang out with nerds and I am at the university where most people are intelligent, cultivated and all, by the way, we were only 15 in my class so I wasn't hard to find people who would like me even if they thought I was strange.

When soemone is an adult, it's hard to tell whether he needs help or not or whether he has a disorder or not because some people have learnt how to adapt a little (and just seem very nerdy) while others never succeeded in improving. It's even harder, as we said, since Asperger is in between NT and LFA, there are many people who are bordeline Aspies and may or may not be diagnosed with it since it's a little tricky with them.

As for having a job and all... well, first those who have a family are not truly autonomous because they depend on their family most of the time. Living on their own ? I used to live with my brother and it was like "living on my own" except that I needed my brother's help most of the time because I hate doing thing outside on my own like shopping, but I had to learn and can do it, I just prefer not to because it feels akward.
It's just that some people try hard to improve to live an almost normal life, it may he harder for them than for NTs yet they can do it.

By the way, where do you live ?

Why is one-up-manship so prevalent on this forum? "I'm more autistic than you" "My asperger's diagnosis is right, yours is wrong" "You haven't struggled as much as I have" ENOUGH!! !! !!

I thought to purpose of this site was to support each other, not tear each other down.

I don't know about where the rest of you live but here people have to jump through hoops to be diagnosed with Aspergers. They are seen by different doctors, pyschologist and various other professionals with all sorts of diffferent specialisms. It takes months of tests and assessments before a diagnosis is given. It is highly unlikely that an entire team of professionals specialising in this field would all get it wrong.

What some of you are doing is perpetuating the myth that if you cannot see it, it doesn't exist. As aspies who know first hand the difficulties of lack of understanding from others, you should know better.