? re: comorbids

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I have a question regarding comorbid conditions.

My 10 year old son J has recently started seeing a physcologist (cant spell sorry) the first session was history taking and getting to know you. The second (he has only had two so far) session was spent more with J than me. I've called the doc's in because J has been more anxious and panicy than usual, he was extremely bad last year (old school were not nice) he is in a new school and they are fantastic but he is still very anxious, some of which is to be expected, but this anxiety has crossed over into situations he used to be very very familiar and comfortable with.

The phsyc called me in when she was done with J and explained that they will be working with him they are predicting even longer than they originally thought. They explained that it was going to take a while for J to build up some trust in them (I did tell them that trust is a BIG issue with J) They also went on to say that they had been trying to work out what sort of anxiety J has, I didn't know there was more than one, until they explained them. Apparently they are leaning (or one of the doc's is, there are 2. One is in training) towards generalised anxiety, so in other words he has a bit of everything. I could have told them this.

My question is: Will this then be classed as a comorbid condition?
When does the anxiety assosiated with aspergers cross the line and end up being not just aspergers anxiety but a comorbid?

thanks in advance.

Interesting question and, not being a professional, I can't say I really know. What I can say is that J's anxiety seems to be much much higher than my son's, and somewhere in-between then is probably where that line between AS anxiety and co-morbid anxiety is.

My son doesn't have any "generalized" anxiety; we can always find a specific reason for it that goes back either to a negative experience or a sensory issue. If my son appears to have more anxiety than the average kid, it is only because life really is more difficult and anxiety producing for him. Because of his difficulties in other areas there are more opportunities for events that cause it. Social issues will cause anxiety; homework with too much use of his hands will cause anxiety; a page with too many problems on it can cause anxiety because he doesn't have the executive function to manage it; he gets anxious around dogs because of a terrifying experience with one when he was very young; and so on. It usually relates to something that is more difficult for him because of his AS, but by itself it isn't normally caused by the AS.

Does that make sense? Things you can find a rational trigger for, v. those you can't?

there are several comorbids

I have a cocktail every morning of Lithium, Ritalin and Prozac (I call them my spedicine, or anti-retardants) ... so that should tell you something.

i always thought Generalized Anxiety was a part of AS

I don't know if it really matters if it's co-morbid or not. I was dxed with generalized anxiety, social phobia, and selective mutism in a mere hour session...

My son (7) was diagnosed with anxiety order separately from the Asperger's. His anxiety is pretty severe though.

My sons were also dxed with GAD comorbid with AS, and I have often wondered the same thing. I guess while a certain amount of social anxiety is a given with AS, a great deal of anxiety that spills over into all aspects of life isn't?

I agree that the anxiety seems to go hadn in hand with Aspergers. It is important that it is understood as existing alongside AS so that professionals working with him realize that some of his behaviors are spurred on by anxiety rather than a willful insubordination. In this case, measures can be taken to identify what triggered the anxiety and how it can be decreased by altering the environment as much as possible and implementing therapeutic alternatives to outbursts.