Monday, 3 December 2012 05:56 pm
(no subject)
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deckardcanineThe new DSM-V has dropped "Asperger's syndrome" from official diagnoses and lumps the people to whom it applied under "autistic spectrum disorder."
Ordinarily I don't really mind when the APA changes terminology. I got used to saying "dissociative identity disorder" despite the tradition of "multiple personality disorder" instead. If it's more accurate, why not?
My hangup this time is the broadness of the remaining label. Telling people I have Asperger's can give them a good idea of my symptoms. Telling them I have autistic spectrum disorder -- especially if someone else does the telling in my absence -- may bring much more severe behavior to mind. Even adding "mild" may not be enough; I recall a documentary in which a "slightly autistic" man spent hours each day staring at a particular frozen video frame.
On this point, I intend to stick with old-fashioned language.
Ordinarily I don't really mind when the APA changes terminology. I got used to saying "dissociative identity disorder" despite the tradition of "multiple personality disorder" instead. If it's more accurate, why not?
My hangup this time is the broadness of the remaining label. Telling people I have Asperger's can give them a good idea of my symptoms. Telling them I have autistic spectrum disorder -- especially if someone else does the telling in my absence -- may bring much more severe behavior to mind. Even adding "mild" may not be enough; I recall a documentary in which a "slightly autistic" man spent hours each day staring at a particular frozen video frame.
On this point, I intend to stick with old-fashioned language.
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Sometimes I think these professional psychiatrists need to get their heads checked.
no subject
I have similar trouble with the public acceptance of dyslexia. There's varying degrees of comprehension from the public, ranging from the genuinely knowledgeable to the utterly ignorant who think that it's only about making spelling mistakes. At the present point in time it's not officially recognised as a disability (not here in Australia at least) which has been the cause of horrendous stress at work when they violate my most basic needs, such as when for 18 months they had me sitting next to the shrieking chimpanzee - only someone completely deaf would be able concentrate on their work next to her, but in my case it was sheer utter hell and part of the reason I ended up on antidepressants.