Is aspergers the new ADHD?

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I'm just hearing this claims of it being the new ADHD from people who strongly disagree with the current societal state especially those who don't particularly agree with the educational system.

Oh. I've heard this sentiment, but more so in the sense that it's the new ADHD because it's trendy and overdiagnosed.

You're saying it's the ADHD because people who don't it in with society or at school are being labelled with a "disorder"?

I see truth in both claims, more so the first, though.

The second makes it sounds like autistics are rebels...this might be the case for some, but not many, IMO.

The self-proclaimed non-conformists are a different set, although there are some Aspies in this set as well.

It's just a prt of autism that some people may have, others really wan to fit in and can't.

My pet peeve is that AS seems to be overdiagnosed within the ASD spectrum. It's a neat category, unlike PDD-NOS, which isn't, to say the least. I suspect it's more so in the States than - say - in Europe.

As for any ASDs are overdiagnosed within the population, I don't see much evidence. It all depends on where we put the threshold of "clinically significant impairment in everyday life". Yes, there are certainly people who where dx'd at a young age with it, and than later they don't show the symptoms to the extent it would qualify them for a dx if they were reevaluated. Some might even be dx'd because they had behavioral problems and not much of the regular symptoms, so in this sense it can be "the new ADHD/ADD" to a certain extent. AS has grown to be one of the most widely known developmental disorders by the public so far, so there's a chance that it had become somewhat diluted over time.

I that people who make that claim need to remember they're applying it to their own environment. I can say that as someone who needs help, not only do I see Asperger being misunderstood, but even ADHD.

Reptillian,

I don't understand your post. Are you stating that people are using this diagnosis as an excuse to hide the lack of quality education?...so, instead of being able to blame the educational system (in the US, I think it's subpar), they can just pin the fault on individual children?

If that's true, I wouldn't know because I don't know any children in school. I think it's likely a prevalent condition.

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From my own perspective and experience, it seems there are many people around my age and older who are just discovering they likely have AS and it explains why we've been called "weird", "odd", "intense" and other somewhat derogatory terms all of our lives. It explains many of our quirks and why we have a tough time dealing with depression and anxiety, and why we can be an emotional mess. It explains why we've had difficulties with relationships.

Instead of looking at every symptom and trying to address it separately, AS puts it into a neater box; even though there are some differences between people who likely have AS.

If you're talking about ADHD-PI, AS increasingly appears to be the real problem that just presented itself as an odd, atypical subset of ADHD.

What does PI mean?...

I get the feeling that everything is overdiagnosed in America. It's a really twisted society.

ADHD predominantly inattentive (formerly ADD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADHD_predo ... nattentive

OK.

I do believe that ASD is being over diagnosed. I understand that there is a spectrum, and that someone who is very mild might not seem like they have it.
I don't know, I don't have any insight or information to back up what I feel, so my opinion is blind.

So... I'll put this into extremely selfish terms: I feel that Asperger's is over diagnosed because it seems like more and more people are being 'treated' for it. Because so many people are being diagnosed, it lessens the supposed problems that society perceives me of having. The more people being inadequately diagnosed means that I do not get the help that I need, and that society views me as being a liar and an attention seeker. That's not fair.

Nah. Its just that the general population has become aware of it. For years, people like us were just "odd" or "problems" or "Schizoid' etc., etc.
I believe in the past that its actually been under-diagnosed or recognized. At least IME & IMHO.

Sincerely,
Matt
PS. And you cannot drug an AS person into compliance. Now that is a problem with ADD & ADHD because some teachers/parents just think as long as their kid is quiet there is NO problem.

I'd like to add -

I personally don't think it's fair to those who are severely impaired and absolutely can not function without assistance to essentially have the same diagnosis in name as those who have struggled, but have managed to get by.

But, with a diagnosis, when there are times in life that are completely overwhelming (because I think even milder cases get to this point which is what often leads to self diagnosis), there still should be an official diagnosis available for those who seek to find out.

Sorry, had to add that.


What bothers me is how often doctors seem to diagnose and give a child drugs when perhaps in some milder cases, just therapy would help. I know some/many (?) autistic people have had success with medication to help daily functioning (at least from some things I've read on WP), and I would never deny that the drugs don't help some people.....but I don't like the lack of patience with those children who could use a bit more understanding but are given drugs instead of doing the harder work.

No they are two separate disorders.

Yes everything except the problems society has created in the first place is over-diagnosed, that's under-diagnosed.

No, we just happen to have as our ancestors individuals who were several orders of magnitude more likely to have ADHD (including the highest-functioning Aspies), schizophrenia, narcissism, psychopathy, or some comorbid combination... then got Europe's most vile religious zealots dumped on our doorstep to stir the pot and spread their misery.

If anything, I'd be suspicious of any mental health statistic that DOESN'T show any given disorder being at least 5-10% more prevalent in the United States.