Is aspergers a fad diagnosis?

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My mother works with autistic children and she believes ASD is being overdiagnosed as a whole. I think it is being both over AND underdiagnosed. I think there are loads of females out there who are undiagnosed.

Bingo! We have a winner.

i absolutely agree with this. and.... many of the people who are arguing that it is a fad diagnosis are notably NOT ASPIES, so i'd take their opinions with a grain of salt anyways. how can they possibly have any idea what it means to be an aspie?


thank you for that. very well-said.

something i noticed from reading this thread is that 60% of the people polled think it is *not* a fad diagnosis. yet the majority of comments on this thread point the other way. some people are very vocal on the forums, but that does not mean their opinions form the majority consensus.

i don't really understand what the big deal is regarding how many people are ultimately diagnosed with AS. obviously, individuals are being diagnosed because they need the assistance or resources. just because other people can't tell an indiaviual's aspieness (as ythe judges are non-professionals) does not negate the diagnosis in any way. it's like some of you on WP are jealously guarding the keys to all of the supposed riches and freedoms that come from a diagnosis.

p.s. i have never heard this phrase before, that AS is a 'borderline' disorder, as some people have suggested on this thread. in my understanding, you are either AS... or not...

Last edited by hyperlexian on 17 Aug 2010, 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It means that Aspies are in between NTs and low-functionning autistics (classic autism) I guess, which is probably the reason why it was discovered later.

i completely agree. i also think that many women are misdiagnosed with other disorders, for many reasons. for instance, in some cases female children are forced to be more highly socialized than males are, which may allow women some more semblance of imitation social skills.

I strongly doubt it.

I don't know but if it is a fad I wish it had escaped me and my son. I also wish he were potty trained and talking. That I had friends and etc. I'd be happy to be misdiagnosed if it meant my symptoms would magically vanish and his symptoms too.

I thought bipolar would be the new hip thing around here too (Sweden BTW), but it sort of never took. I know I would be considered bipolar in USA, but here I'm seen as having depression. It was the new fad a while, but it came and went. I assume one thing was that we have socialized med, so the state doesn't want to pay for more meds, which only explains to some part, since depressed people might need meds as well.

ADHD was never the hip thing it been other places either, even if it is mentioned a bit.

In the early 90s, borderline was the thing to "be"... Back then no one was diagnosed with autism that wasn't more a clear case, people here was shoved into the BPD diagnosis. I'm not saying BPD doesn't exist, but for a while it was bloated with people who later were diagnosed ADHD or AS.

Me, I've been diagnosed with everything in the book. I basically followed the line of the hip diagnoses. I've "been" borderline, other personality disorders, schizophrenic, bipolar, AS and now ADHD. So sure there is a trend what to diagnose someone with.

Still, yea I think AS is real and I think ADHD is real... I also think I do have those. Well, it is "all" real... for some people. I do think we are getting better at knowing what is really going on. I think those with schizophrenia for example though are happy I'm not wrongly grouped up with them.

Then there is the line drawing and what to call things. Like if the whole concept of Asperger's is on its way out with the new DSM. And, also I think and feel this kind of world is very people hostile in general, anyone who isn't completely mainstreamed might get diagnosed. I understand they do need assistance. But... I'd rather live in a world where all kinds of people could actually live, a people friendly world. I think it is a sign of our times that almost everyone could be tagged with something.

I believe that Asperger's is in a way a fad disorder. I'm starting to think that it is the result of how humans have gotten out of touch with themselves and our environment. There's probably more than one way people can become out of touch. AS is a indication of how we are currently not where we should be.

I think one reason autism is frowned upon these days is that we live in huge societies and we don't need many special people. Like say, we don't need many actors and singers, because we can watch a DVD or buy a CD. We don't need many to invent and research because we can all benefit. We don't need much of shamans either because religion is centralized.

When people lived in small groups, they needed many more different people to satisfy the groups needs. Diversity was probably much more welcome. You'd need people who could make pottery, you needed some people who could make music, improve things, also you needed the shaman, that now is said usually was someone on the spectrum or with TLE or similar. Talk about different place in society, from treated well and special to treated like crap (Like in todays world).

Not saying everything was better in tribes but...

These days people who are different are basically useless. The useful people are those who can be made good consumers and good workers. Malleable, normal people.

I would say that, in modern society, being "different" is an high-risk/high-reward condition: you have much more probability of become rich and/or famous, and also a bigger probability of become a long-term unemployed.

I think it could be a fad self-diagnosis, but I think the professionals know what they're doing when they give someone an official diagnosis because of all the extensive testing that has to be done beforehand.

QFT.

I have a confession to make: I was diagnosed by a lowly psychologist. I didn't spend months taking "special tests." I never got a brain scan or a EEG. I never saw an ASD specialist, a neuro-whatever, or anything else. Just a lowly psychologist who asked me a bunch of questions, observed my behavior, and took a family history from my mother.

He's quite confident that I have it, but, according to many of the folks on this forum, my diagnosis will never be "good enough." However, jf anyone has a problem with how I was diagnosed, they can send me a blank check so I can go take a bunch of special tests and get a "real" diagnosis." 'Kay?

Oh, and I can see the big letters and the little letters. OH NO! I must not have an ASD!! !

--XFG