Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) Quiz
Total points
46/90
PDA Traits
20 of 50 points
A score of 11-20 indicates unlikely to be PDA
Autism traits
26 of 40 points
A score of 25-32 indicates likely to be autism
Why?
Maybe because I can't relate to strict routines, intolerance of unpredictability or change and the like.
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dragonsanddemons
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Joined: 19 Mar 2011
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 6,659
Location: The Labyrinth of Leviathan
Total: 56/90
PDA: 23/50
Autism: 33/40
I scored higher than I expected, because I like to get things done right away and do best if I have specific instructions to follow, whether created by me or someone else. Too many questions that were half true and half false for me, though (for example I have no strong need for control but will do everything I reasonably can to avoid being put in charge of anything).
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I was not sure how to answer some of those as like someone else said there should have been more then yes or no. I never have been good at yes or no decisions.
70 out of 90. What is PDA as I had 34 out of 50 in it. I had 36 out of 40 in the autism part which is a bit higher then I expected.
Some questions like "Do I lie". Rarely ever lie if I can help it as I learned as a child that one lie lwads to another and ones life can get complicated so I decided early in my life to tell the truth.
Should the question be "Can I lie?" which would be "Yes". Yes I can lie but I rarely ever do. I feel extremely awkward trying to answer yes or no when the truth will lie somewhere inbetween so I could both be telling the truth or both be telling a lie whichever aay I answer them. I hate guessing answers which don't have "Don't know" options. Don't know meaning that I do not know what to put as I could answer it yes and no depending on the circumstances....
But what is PDA anyway?
Other questions which are hard to answer are "Do you like change?" Well it depends what type of change. I hate the way my town is not like how I remember it when I was young and it makes me feel claustrophobic as even whole streets are no longer there.
Other chnges I like. I don't like others changing things for me but I do like to change things myself if that makes sense?
It is unexpected forced change that gets me. Example, the virus restrictions. I have been soo stressed whenever I go near shops. I can't face going in many of them. Actually most of them for a few resons.
But what is PDA anyway?
...
Pathological demand avoidance
It's about one's... Avoidance to demand.
The simplest term I can explain about this is a form of behavioral adaptability and external growth, but is also a form of internal rigidity and delay of growth.
It's like a form of... Bypassing as a compensation.
Very prominent to those with anxiety disorders as a reaction or coping mechanism.
It is also said to be what can be mistaken for ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), but it's also said that it's the less behaviourally extremist and way less inappropriate reactions of version of that.
Personally, I don't like others imposing too much expectations over me and am aware of it. Heck I even hate my own body's demand more.
But that doesn't equally mean avoidant or even anxiety inducing, let alone pathological.
It's easier for someone to goad me into said demands -- as a challenge. Self imposed and willing if I were at my better or daring moods.
Yet... I have my own limits, and it pisses me off sometimes when I went unreliable.
This inconsistency of mine didn't made me anxious -- if anything, it's just not a surprise if I suddenly can't run at a pace when anyone and myself expects me to.
Still stressful and painful however.
Except pain and stress isn't a good motivator or dismotivator in my case.
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But what is PDA anyway?
...
Pathological demand avoidance
It's about one's... Avoidance to demand.
The simplest term I can explain about this is a form of behavioral adaptability and external growth, but is also a form of internal rigidity and delay of growth.
It's like a form of... Bypassing as a compensation.
Very prominent to those with anxiety disorders as a reaction or coping mechanism.
It is also said to be what can be mistaken for ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), but it's also said that it's the less behaviourally extremist and way less inappropriate reactions of version of that.
Personally, I don't like others imposing too much expectations over me and am aware of it. Heck I even hate my own body's demand more.
But that doesn't equally mean avoidant or even anxiety inducing, let alone pathological.
It's easier for someone to goad me into said demands -- as a challenge. Self imposed and willing if I were at my better or daring moods.
Yet... I have my own limits, and it pisses me off sometimes when I went unreliable.
This inconsistency of mine didn't made me anxious -- if anything, it's just not a surprise if I suddenly can't run at a pace when anyone and myself expects me to.
Still stressful and painful however.
Except pain and stress isn't a good motivator or dismotivator in my case.
Thanks for making sense of it for me. I kinda get it.
Total 53/90
PDA 25/50
Autism 28/40
It was a little difficult answering some. Other than my answer really being a 'sometimes" or an "I don't know" there was a number of things that i use to do/feel/etc that no longer do. So I would say no but at one time it was a yes o_O
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Here's a link to the PDA part of the test for anybody who, like me, doesn't want to trust Google with personal information (it's probably safe, and the scoring on the dragonriko version isn't automatic, so it's slightly less convenient, but here it is anyway):
https://dragonriko.wordpress.com/pda-test-for-adults/
As usual with simplistic questions, there are quite a few I can't honestly answer so simply, but it soon became clear that I was answering "yes" to most of the ones that I could honestly answer. Sorry not to present a precise score but I think it would have no more meaning than to say it would be quite high.
On the other hand, having read this thread and looked around the Web at other descriptions of it, I still don't know what PDA is. From its name I'd have thought it was the pathological avoidance of demands, but the questions and the proposed diagnostic criteria seem to mostly have little to do with that and little to do with each other. Here's the proposed diagnostic criteria, with my responses added:
Passive early history in the first year, avoiding ordinary demands and missing milestones Not as far as I know.
Continuing to avoid demands, panic attacks if demands are escalated Only to a very limited degree, and no panic attacks.
Surface sociability, but apparent lack of sense of social identity Maybe, but I don't know what an apparent sense of social identity would look like.
Lability of mood and impulsive Moods very stable, only slightly prone to impulsiveness.
Comfortable in role play and pretending Don't know.
Language delay, seemingly the result of passivity, often caught up quickly No.
Obsessive behavior Probably not abnormally so.
Neurological signs (awkwardness, similar to autism spectrum disorders) What do they mean by "similar to ASD?" I have ASD, and used to be somewhat awkward in the sense of social awkwardness, and I'm still awkward in the sense of not liking to be pushed around when it doesn't suit me.
So if anything, that would suggest I'm not very likely to have PDA.
Edna's description is the clearest I've seen, though that triangular picture is much too hard for me to fathom without a lot of work, and even then I might not be able fathom it. I relate to her remarks about not liking demands yet not being exactly avoidant, anxious or pathological. I rather wonder who it is who decides what's a reasonable demand of another person anyway - if there's an element of needing to accept an authority just because somebody says so, or accepting all demands from individuals just because the mainstream usually does, I hate that kind of thing, but I very often go along with it because I know when I'm outgunned or when I need to be diplomatic.
I see that PDA isn't recognised by DSM or ICD. Given that and the fact that I can't figure out what it is, I'm afraid it's hard for me to give it much credence, though I respect anybody's right to work with it of course, if they think it's helpful to them. And if anybody thinks I'm wrong to abandon it and can give me a really clear, simple explanation of what it is and why it's a valid thing, please do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathologi ... _avoidance
funeralxempire
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Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Age: 40
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 29,445
Location: Right over your left shoulder
PDA: 35/50
Autism: 39/40
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PDA 25/50
Autism 28/40
It was a little difficult answering some. Other than my answer really being a 'sometimes" or an "I don't know" there was a number of things that i use to do/feel/etc that no longer do. So I would say no but at one time it was a yes o_O
I answered no for some things I no longer do and yes for others, depending on whether the phrasing was about what I do or what I've done. I'm not sure it mattered on the PDA but my autism score was a little higher than it could have been, although taking the exact phrasings literally seemed in the spirit of the quiz.
Passive early history in the first year, avoiding ordinary demands and missing milestones: Partially. I avoided "ordinary demands", but didn't really miss milestones?
Continuing to avoid demands, panic attacks if demands are escalated: Yes. More so as a child. I still get anxiety from escalating demands, but don't panic.
Surface sociability, but apparent lack of sense of social identity: Yes?
Lability of mood and impulsive: Yes.
Comfortable in role play and pretending: Mostly by myself as a child. I can't comfortably play pretend/roleplay with adults, children, or by myself anymore.
Language delay, seemingly the result of passivity, often caught up quickly: No language delay. I had speech issues beyond a delay though. Not from being passive, but maybe they were prolonged by my reluctance to work on them with teachers and therapists.
Obsessive behavior: Yes? I have special interests and OCD symptoms.
Neurological signs (awkwardness, similar to autism spectrum disorders): Yeah. I have motor skill issues and am very "awkward" socially.