Is aspergers a fad diagnosis?

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Is aspergers a fad diagnosis?

Kind of like ADHD was?

I think Asperger's is still really underdiagnosed... so no.

I very much suspect not, but don't have data to back up my claim, so 'I don't know' is most accurate.

Yeah, like ADHD. Still a problem though. Now kids are being given Seroquel for their supposed ADHD.

Can it be both under- and overdiagnosed?

I see a lot of people needing real help... still they seem very unautistic and I'm told they are aspies. They still have issues that creates real issues on the psychiatric scale but.. as for passing as autistic.. I don't know. I saw a lot of people lately being diagnosed Asperger's that I feel barely have any traits. Then I feel that diagnosis is getting too broad and it will lose some of its bite. Still those people are in need of help so... I don't know.

Actually I feel a little threatened by them. If "they" get too many, "my" type of Asperger's will get marginalized.

However I'll also mention I really didn't see myself as ADD and no one else did either... still I seem to be a missed diagnosis because I am actually quite severely ADD! So for me that is a real thing and sure not a fad... same people with AS can be missed.

I don't know, I've known quite a few people with ADHD but I don't know anyone with AS besides myself. I don't ask though.

I don't know. I think it may depend on where you live and who diagnosed you.

There seems to be more and more people who display autistic behaviour without having any disorder. I've talked to some of them when I was asking about developmental issue in Asperger children. We had a debate and two of them were actually pretty much like me from what they said (except for the dyspraxia) though they were totally NTs. They also were parents of HFA, therefore they may have borderline personnalities.
There are many disorders which are like mild AS, Schizoid personality, learning disorders, etc...

I tend to think that the tendencie to over diagnose children with AHDH may be caused by the similarities between the different mental disorders.

I decided to get diagnosed for dyspraxia this year because I suspected it and doctors had already given it over names on my medical records, I indeed have dyspraxia... but ADHD is also suspected.

Dyspraxia, just as AS, is barely known and diagnosed in my country though there are more and more people who are being diagnosed with it.

Lack of attention is common among people who have dyspraxia. It's also common among people who have AS. Mainly because we focus on something else, because our development is different.

Thus, people who have a disability tend to be diagnosed with ADHD, just as people who have a above average IQ by the way. I think the main reason is that our brain doesn't work the typical way.


As for AS, I'd say that if there are more and more people diagnosed with it, that's probably because people are more informed. Yet, there will always be false diagnosis. It also seems that females tend to be considered as NT no matter how AS they are.

[And for the moment, the only thing that doesn't make NT is dyspraxia, because I really don't feel NT at all though I haven't been diagnosed with Autism and may never be.]

On one hand, it is a serious diagnosis for people who really have it. On the other, parents of smart kids might seek it out so their kids might be perceived as more intelligent, which isn't what the diagnosis should be about. If it comes down to that, it will escalate quickly into being viewed as a "fad diagnosis", or not legit.

If their doctors saw that they fit the DSM criteria then it wasn't a misdiagnosis. If they didn't fit it, it was. The tricky thing is, a person can fit the criteria without being like you or seeming autistic to you.

This is why I voted "no" I don't think it's a fad diagnosis. I wouold need to see some evidence that a significant number of people are being diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome who do not fit the DSM crtiteria for me to vote yes. There are probably some misdiagnoses, but without evidence that this is happening pretty frequently, I can't say that doctors are just jumping on a bandwagon. If it turns out that doctors are giving people the diagnosis even if they don't fir the criteria then yes it is a fad. But there's no evidence of this. Or at least nobody has yet collected any. "They don't seem autistic to me" is not evidence.

I question how a fad diagnosis could be considered for deletion from the DSM, so I say no.

If they don't seem autistic to most people, maybe the doctor has misdiagnosed. If someone is noticing this in several diagnosed kids, maybe the diagnosis is becoming a fad.

I really hope that doesn't happen. For me it's a very serious diagnosis. If had been DXed as a kid and not an Adult it would have made a huge difference in my life, and I wouldn't need as much help as I do now.

Last edited by Angel_ryan on 15 Aug 2010, 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Parents of smart kids are unlikely to seek it out unless their kids are having problems. The parents might be completely wrong about the source of the problems and guess that it is Aspergers Syndrome when the problems are really being caused by something else. But parents don't get to make a diagnosis. Only a doctor can do that and the doctor has to be convinced the kid fits the DSM criteria. Not that I think every doctor will be right and I assume there will be some misdiagnoses. But there still has to be evidence of Aspergers to convince a doctor

Or maybe people are interpreting "seems autistic" too narrowly. A person needs to fit DSM crtiteria to get a diagnosis. Not all the people who fit the criteria are going to seem like each other.

No. Bipoar disorder is the "it" diagnosis these days. It's the ADHD of this decade. In twenty years something new BS condition where someone can't pick their nose with the right hand will be refured to as the "new bipolar".

I would like to be optimistic and believe that, but parents are more competitive these days with their kids and want them to have that edge and a diagnosis that hints at genuis might be it. An incredibly bright kid might get diagnosed with AS just because he or she knows a lot about quantum mechanics at a young age, and it's understandable since AS is associated with precocious aquisition of knowledge by youngsters. What if the doctor looks at that alone, and not at how the child is making friends and getting along with peers. Should a Doctor be allowed to diagnos AS based on the child's interest in physics and high IQ alone?