EPQ -‘Does the media cause the over diagnosis of Asperger's?

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I am a student at Wolfreton School (Hull, UK), in sixth form, and I am currently completing my Extended Project Qualification. For this, I need to spend at least 100 hours researching my chosen topic to complete a 5000 word essay. To fulfil this, I have chosen to answer the question ‘Does the media cause the over diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome?’ followed up by creating a brief PowerPoint on my findings.
To do this, I would really appreciate your help. I have watched many programmes/ films that show characters that appear to have Asperger's( e.g. Adam, Dear John, Skins etc.) and also have read ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’. I have also researched in to AS to try and gain a clearer understanding.
I would really appreciate it if you were able to take the time to answer a few questions about Asperger's and the media. Your answers could be used in my final essay, so please let me know if you would prefer to remain anonymous.
The overall aim of this project is to investigate and understand the effect the media has on the public perceptions of Asperger's syndrome and whether it has any effect on the diagnosis of a person. By completing the questions, you are taking part in my research; however you are able to withdraw your answers at any time without consequence or having to give a reason. Also, any information you give will remain confidential but I may use it as part of my project.
1. Have you seen any TV programmes/ films showing or talking about Asperger's?
2. Have you read any books with characters that have Asperger's?
3. What do you understand Asperger's to be?
4. Do you think Asperger's is talked about enough in today’s society?
5. Do you think Asperger's is represented well by the media? (TV, Film etc.)
6. Have you noticed/ heard about a rise in the diagnosis of Asperger's?
7. How do you feel about people self-diagnosing a condition?
8. Do you have any opinions on the media representation of Asperger's?
Thank you so much for giving up your time to answer these questions, I really appreciate it. Please remember you have the right to withdraw your answers at any point should you feel uncomfortable.
Thank you in advance,
Rachael Bettney.

Just quickly, a couple of things that occur to me right away.

The question assumes that Asperger's is over diagnosed. What is your evidence that this is the case?

People post here from all over the world. I think it would be helpful to ask where people come from as it does seem that there are differences between the UK, and for example, the US, in how ASDs are portrayed and perceived. Mass media are different anyway as are societal attitudes generally.

Sure it does, Rachael, everybody wants to be associated with Adam Lanza. Wouldn't you?



Unfortunately, that's about the only "public perception" there is right now. Weirdo geeks who are liable to go nuts at any moment. All I see the news media doing is associating us with violent psychopaths and I wish they'd cut it out.

There are several characters in fictional media, like Sheldon Cooper and Temperance Brennan who clearly demonstrate Aspergian characteristics, but they are rarely or never identified as such, so the audience isn't making any kind of positive connection there.

If you're looking for evidence to support a hypothesis that people are seeking out a false diagnosis out of some sort of 'Mental Health Hypochondria,' because they saw something about Asperger Syndrome in the media, that's ridiculous. Trust me, nobody chooses this life or this condition. But when you live with it, it can be a great relief to discover you're not the only one suffering from these crippling disabilities and they aren't just flaws in your own personality. I don't hold it against anybody for self-diagnosing - if you live with this, it's not difficult to look at the diagnostic criteria and say "Hey! THAT'S ME!"

As for what AS is, there is no such thing as a thumbnail description, it's a complex disorder, that starts with autistic hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli and dominoes outward, creating social deficits, which in turn can create emotional issues. If you really want to understand it, I'd suggest you spend time reading threads on Wrong Planet over a period of time and see what issues are being discussed repeatedly.

As for a "rise in diagnoses", Mental Health professionals are often hesitant to give those, because they don't want to contribute to an "overdiagnosis" - the truth is, there are probably a lot of people dealing with this disorder who aren't even aware of why they're having the problems and issues they do, because they've never heard of AS. There are a great many of us here on WP who have lived with the condition for 30, 40, years or more before discovering why we couldn't keep a job or maintain a stable relationship all our lives. I'm not part of any "overdiagnosis" - I should have been diagnosed back in 1964 when I started school, but nobody was looking for it then.

Personally, I think High Functioning Autism is a problem that has always been present and is just becoming more commonly recognized, mainly due to the availability of information on the Internet.

The first thing I would say is that your title presents asperger syndrome being over diagnosed as a fact when there are compelling arguments suggesting it is underdiagnosed (particularly in girls/women). Having recently gone through the diagnostic process with my son I can say that in the UK diagnosing a child can take years and and needs agreement from 3 professionals and the child to be observed numerous times in different settings. For this reason my personal opinion is that misdiagnosis is rare. A better question, in my opinion, would be 'Is asperger syndrome overdiagnosed?' and looking at arguments on both sides including any role you feel media portrayals of asperger syndrome have on the diagnostic rate.
That's just my advice which you are, of course, free to take or leave .
Now to the questions...
1. Have you seen any TV programmes/ films showing or talking about Asperger's? Quite a lot of factual programmes with real people who have aspergers and Big Bang Theory (though I don't think Sheldon officially has aspergers).
2. Have you read any books with characters that have Asperger's? I've read The Curious Incident...
3. What do you understand Asperger's to be? Difficulties with social interaction, social communication and social imagination present before the age of 3 without clinical language delay. The extent of the difficulties and areas of difficulty differ in every case. Most people I know with asd also have sensory issues.
4. Do you think Asperger's is talked about enough in today’s society? No. In my experience not a lot of people are aware of it.
5. Do you think Asperger's is represented well by the media? (TV, Film etc.) I think recently it has become associated with violence due to the Sandy Hook shooting in America. The coverage in the Daily Mail was particularly awful - mentioning aspergers unecessarily in nearly every paragraph and all but saying that was the reason behind it.
6. Have you noticed/ heard about a rise in the diagnosis of Asperger's? Yes - I believe this is due to better understanding among medical professionals and better diagnostic pathways.
7. How do you feel about people self-diagnosing a condition? I think it is up to the individual whether they want to pursue a professional diagnosis. Some people may be so sure that they feel it pointless. But I'm sure there is more overdiagnosis in people diagnosing themselves than those diagnosed officially - as with any condition.
8. Do you have any opinions on the media representation of Asperger's? I think it's difficult to give an accurate representation as every person is different. But the news seems to focus only on either criminals or those who have some sort of talent (I suppose others are not newsworthy).

^^^. Willard demonstrates my second point. I know who Adam Lanza is, and his association with Asperger's because it has been discussed here fairly regularly. I'm pretty sure many or most other people in the UK won't know who he is, and will be unaware that he has been identified as having Asperger's. Those that do know about him probably do so because they or someone close to them is autistic.

Right now, in the UK, the highest profile person associated with Asperger's in the media, is Susan Boyle. Adam Lanza/Susan Boyle....

Where you live, what media you consume and why, does have a massive effect on what information you are exposed to, and how you interpret it.

To be honest, I think you are working with a flawed starting point here. Do your teachers approve these questions?

You seem to be suggesting that professionals are swayed by what they read or see on TV. After all, they are the people who do the diagnosing, so if you are saying that there is over diagnosis, you are inferring that there is such influence. And that is a bit dodgy, I feel.

Are you trying to establish that media portrayals of Asperger's may lead to an increased number of people seeking a diagnosis for themselves or others? That might make more sense and be more readily explored. You may even find parallels with other conditions. I'm pretty sure that media attention to celebrity health problems has resulted in more people turning up at their doctor's surgery worried about something.

Sandy Hook has had a fair bit of coverage over here but maybe I've noticed it more as it has annoyed me that people may be assuming my sweet son is dangerous because some journalists, who have no medical qualification, have decided that shooting people is a trait of aspergers.
Susan Boyle has had a lot of media attention and Abz from the boyband 5ive (who recently came runner up in Celebrity Big Brother and spoke about his diagnosis while he was in there).

HI thankyou so much for the replies! and I might have to do some re-wording because I also meant people believing they have Asperger's Syndrome, possibly due to what they've seen in the media, not just professional diagnosis. But I understand what you're all saying so I'll take it in to account for my question!

I think it is still under-diagnosed in females, and I know that from experience. If I had been diagnosed in my childhood instead of my mid-20's in 2001 after being put through one long, horrible nightmare, and then several also horrible nightmares afterwards, my life may have been different and possibly much better. Maybe I would have a high-school diploma and wouldn't have been sent to live in a home with people with chronic schizophrenia when I was 21. Maybe I wouldn't have had outbursts that go so severe after being moved around constantly in and out of several homes my outbursts wouldn't have gotten so severe I ended up being kicked out and left to die at the hospital a week before Christmas. Maybe the kids back in junior high wouldn't have been so cruel and nasty at me because of my special interests and lack of social skills. No wait, human children will always be cruel, heartless and just plain evil to anyone different no matter what. And adults, too. But I'm sure I still would have had a better future.

I think there is a lot of wrong diagnosis because, it has been only discovered relatively recently, it is not something you measure or take an X-Ray to see, it relies on interviews (be it personal or via test). So it is over diagnosed and under diagnosed at the same time. Whether it is more over diagnosed then underdiagnosed or the other way around I have no idea.

I think the increase in diagnoses is because of more knowledge, Technology plus the neuromajority preference for socializing means more multitasking and social skills are needed to become functional then in previous era's. .

How can the media cause an over diagnosis? This assumes the media are somehow influencing the diagnostic process.

What the media do is create characters who are either autistic, or whom fans reimagine as autistic in their headcanon (especially those like Sheldon and Bones who are obviously unspokenly autistic. For eg; Sheldon's mum has said had scenes where she said that she didn't take him to a specialist as a child, and I believe the writers of Bones have said she will never be diagnosed on the show, although her partner's son is).

So, maybe the consequences of the public being more aware of autism and of people having more exposure to better portrayals of autism is that they realise they or their family member or their friend might be on the spectrum, so they seek a diagnosis. Also, because it's in the media, people who suspected they might have autism are less scared to seek a diagnosis. I know when I was a kid, my mum used to stop me stimming by threatening to think I had autism.

I wouldn't call that over diagnosis. And certainly the media isn't causing the diagnosis itself.

There's also a problem with the concept of "over" diagnosis. Is the implication that there are more autistic people, or that psychologists/psychiatrists (sorry those words always confuse me) are making mistakes? What exactly is "over" diagnosis? It sounds kind of negative.

I'm unsure as to exactly what answer you are looking for as it's a quite a vague question. Many a time I have discussed AS and how it is represented by the mainstream media. The summary conclusion is that before 1995 there was no mention of AS or AS traits but in the past 10 or so years the media seeks to portray AS according to the ideals of journalists or present it in a way that is entertaining for the NT masses but is not necessarily representative of reality.