That's a great point. I think one of the reasons they decided to just make an ASD spectrum is that they couldn't reliably differentiate between the different "subtypes" and that there was some biased dx with regards to PDDNOS and Aspergers (more people were getting dx with the former when they were from low SES or certain races). Maybe the criteria for MDD vs. dysthymia or the bipolar disorders were distinct enough, or the presentation of those disorders were distinct enough that they didn't have the same "problem" as ASDs? Just a hypothesis...

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts

Jacq