PDD-NOS

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What on earth is that, anyway?

I would like to get a diagnosis but I feel I would possibly end up with this. I have a friend who has just been diagnosed PDD-NOS and he seems happy enough with it though.

It just seems strange, like writing on a bit of official paper:
"Actually, we dont know what's up with you."

Or: "Weird, but not textbook AS. Hmmm..."

Do you still qualify for disability if you have a PDD-NOS diagnosis? I wouldnt mind that as a sort of safety net as I have problems with employment.

I feel that the DSM thingy is a bit too restrictive.. not all aspies display the specialist interests, and some aspies dont have sensory issues, like my father for instance.

C
~

If I was to get diagnosed, it would be this. I wouldn't though, if i were you.

It's generally used when you don't meet all of the criteria of autistic disorder, but you're clearly autistic. Atypical autism resides here; I haven't heard of atypical Asperger's, but I guess that does too.

As Daniel said, when you do not meet enough criteria for Autistic disorder or Asperger's syndrome. DSM-IV-TR:

Thx all.. yes I can see it is a case of fitting into the DSM criteria... I guess I fear getting a diagnosis as i worry that being diagnosed with PDD-NOS or Inattentive ADHD will sort of make me fall into a grey area.. Atypical Aspergers would be better...

I have been in a grey area most of my life and not fitted into anything... it would be nice for once to fit into a catagory.

it would make me feel weirder to get a sort of non-diagnosis than to get an AS diagnosis.. that would seem to say that my problems in life are my own fault and the world feeling weird and wrong is also my fault. I dont know.

All I know is I would have been very disappointed in a "diagnosis" of PDD-NOS because it wouldn't really mean anything. Atypical autism sounds much better.

Come on, the diagnosis is just an arbitrary category to put you into. It isn't really that important what the categories are. Even if you don't fit in neatly, that doesn't really change you, and it doesn't make anything your fault. I think it's better to know than to go without a diagnosis because you're afraid of something as meaningless as not fitting into a certain category.

No, I needed to put a name to the difficulties I was having in life. I don't care if that means I am labelled as now I have an identity = I am an aspie.

Yes, I guess my desire to be in a catagory is probably about having a sense of identity, instead of dwelling in a scary no-mans land between AS and NT...

If I was made to choose between the 2 I would say I was an aspie because I dont relate to NTs, I find them to be very difficult to deal with on a daily basis.

I guess I shouldnt be so worried about a diagnosis, at the very least when I am back in my home country I can tell my GP that I have had depression and burnout and need a rest, she knows my medical history and she would help me get an unemployment benefit. So I am probably worrying over nothing.

I'm probably PDD-NOS, not quite serious enough in enough categories to fit into the full Asperger's diagnosis. But I call myself Asperger's for the simple reason that the PDD-NOS diagnosis is so broad as to be almost worthless. Categories are only any use if they impart useful information about whatever's being categorised, but so many things fit into PDD-NOS that there's no useful information there. If I say "Asperger's," people have at least a reasonable idea of what that means. If I say PDD-NOS, it could mean close to NT, it could mean severely but not typically autistic, you can be dropped so many different places on the spectrum that there's no useful information there. So I pick out the more specific diagnosis which is close to where I am, because in the end, the label is a form of shorthand - when you use it, it tells people what's up with you. PDD-NOS fails to do that (and fails for professionals, too, because it doesn't negate any need to ask questions as to your condition - you could be so many places they might as well be starting from scratch when assessing you).

I understand the uselessness of the diagnoses. It sucks, and it would be much more helpful if they could give you something meaningful.

But I still feel sorry for people who think they need a label to have an identity.

I guess I would like the label because I have always felt sort of inhuman, and having the label would make me a member of a "race" instead of feeling an outsider of everything. I dont know.

But in reality, I dont really need it.