Is AS being overdiagnosed?

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I think that Aspergers is over diagnosed. A couple of years ago there where a lot of kids who where diagnosed with ADHD. Autism seems to be the new hip and fashionable diagnosis among psychiatrists and psychologists. The difference between ADHD and autism is that a lot of adults are diagnosed with autism as well as kids. Maybe it has got something to do with changes in society. Presenting yourself instead of your abilies and talents has become very important and the emphasis on empty social chitter chatter with collegues and others prevails.

People who are now diagnosed with autism where seen as shy, as dreamers or just as a little odd in the past. Nowadays there seems to be a strong need to put a label in the form of a diagnosis on everyone who is perceived as different. That has it's good sides and it's downsides. People also feel the need to label themselves because they want to find out why things haven't worked out for them. I know for myself that I was born with a lot of autistic trades but I'm not sure yet if the label that has been put on me is helpful for me or not.
It frightens me sometimes, to be honest.

yes absolutely

I've had the exact same thought. It's this generation's ADD/ADHD. Remember getting a diagnosis of ADD? I do. I knew I was something more- I saw how those ADD kids could do things I couldn't. I had challenges that just weren't accounted for. And now, in ten years, I'll hear about ______ in passing, follow up on it, and have an "Ah HA!" moment. Next thing you know, we'll see it in Time Magazine Online- Do YOUR kids have _____? I also think, because so many neurological impairments have similar symptoms, a lot of self-diagnosed aspies will come to suspect they have _____.

Maybe even some of us have an extremely mild form of schizophrenia. Hey, sue me if you want, that's honestly what I think.

I won't believe AS is "over-diagnosed" or "under-diagnosed" until someone can offer direct physical evidence of what exactly autism is.

Until then, it's all just opinion. No point in speculating.

We can all have autism then. Why not.

In my opinion, I have autism. THERE! That settles it!

I have no idea. But it does seem that children with mild social dysfunction are being diagnosed with ASD.

Many adults these days get diagnosed with ADHD.

I think both are over diagnosed and I have extreme symptoms in both.

I'm a bit critical of my doctor putting my friend on ADHD meds when she has Bipolar. Her mania seems to be worse. She said it was for depression. I just think the medication could benefit someone with ADHD issues better than what it's doing for her.

These executive function disorders mirror symptoms and so it can be hard to know for sure what a patient has. They would have probably labelled me with severe depression and left it at that (and they offered no treatment) if I didn't disagree with the diagnosis.

ADHD isn't actually overdiagnosed:

http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/bipolar ... ageNumber=

If anything, it's undiagnosed. Also, a lot of adults as well as children are being diagnosed with ADHD - and approximately 10% of adults who were not diagnosed as children have been diagnosed as adults.

I would like to see research indicating that AS is overdiagnosed. It seems to me that this is an often alarmist assertion that crops up based on "gut feelings" and "assumptions" but I haven't seen much evidence-based analysis of it.

There was one study that seemed to indicate it, but it didn't actually say what articles claimed it said.

There is a fine line between mild AS and NT to know for sure who really has AS and who hasn't. And there are so many disorders and medical conditions that can mimic it. I mean hypothrodism can mimic ADHD and so can symptoms of depression and anxiety.
How do you know what's social anxiety or AS? You could argue that social anxiety can be treated and the AS symptoms are still there but a lot of people with AS struggle with social anxiety all their lives.

All I know is my symptoms of ADHD are so impairing it makes me want to put my fist through the wall and my equally as impairing autism symptoms have made me put a fist through the wall. I manage epilepsy through dietary control and avoidance of certain sensations, i.e flashing lights. It's still not severe enough to get diagnosed.

Bluntly put, if you want to get diagnosed with something you better be impaired by some way by it. Misdiagnoses and diagnosis will happen. It's foolish to think that they never will. A medical professional is still a flawed human being who makes mistakes. My first self-dx of dyslexia was wrong and I admit that. My GP's suspicions about what medical issues I had were close but not accurate. That may make me sound arrogant but I saved my own life (from myself) by further investigating. I even thought I had Bipolar at one point because of the 5-10 days of depression monthly. I think that there still might be some issues not addressed in me but they don't seem to be life threatening, yet.

So, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

I do agree misdiagnoses happen, and I certainly was not trying to suggest they do not. I've been misdiagnosed with two different things just in the past year. And I agree that a diagnosis should relate to actual impairment - someone who isn't impaired is not really diagnosable.

What the article I linked says is that while there are pockets of ADHD overdiagnosis, that overall, it is actually underdiagnosed, and far from overmedicated. I recall someone somewhere else linking research that claimed that one in four adults with ADHD were misdiagnosed, but even that study didn't say what he thought it did (it said 22% of adults diagnosed with ADHD exaggerated their symptoms to get a diagnosis, and a significant number of them actually had ADHD).

I know that hypothyroidism has some things in common with ADHD, but it also has other symptoms that are not typical to ADHD:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001393/



Plus, it's fairly easy to eliminate it as a possibility with a blood test.

Edit: I actually agree with your post overall. I agree twice as hard with what you said about impairment.

I was diagnosed with ADD as a kid and sometimes I do question if I really have it or not. My mom says I do truly have it but it was a misdiagnoses because it didn't explain everything. I wonder if I was one of those kids who was diagnosed with it who didn't have it. I wonder if my symptoms were actually AS symptoms and maybe sensory issues and they mistook them as ADD.

Hearing about ADD or AS being over diagnosed scares me but I don't let myself worry about it and fret if I was one of those kids who got misdiagnosed. Besides the AS label wasn't slapped on me in a few sessions or after a few hours of seeing me. It took me lot of labels for my parents to find what I actually had because none of the other labels explained everything nor really helped.

I bet if I were to hear about anxiety being over diagnosed and people who think they have it are just b*****s and lazy people who don't want to deal with stress, I bet I would be questioning myself too and wonder what if I am just a b***h and too lazy to deal with stress. So that is why I don't worry about it when I hear about AS being over diagnosed. Heck I even once read on a childfree sire that how every child has a disability these days and the parents say their kid has one and it makes it harder for kids with real disabilities. I didn't let that get to me getting all worried about what if I was just a brat as a kid than having a disability or what if I was just stupid. Yeah I don't let those opinions get to me like I used to.

Yeah sorry, I don't have the focus to click on links and read articles today.

I have many days like that.

I look and act perfectly normal on the outside. Had to work at it a bit though. It's doable.

Oh, I believe you. That sounded like a meltdown.