I hope you don't mind me venturing over here..I've just come to ask a question ..


I have autism all my life... but as I was child in the 70's not much was known about autism in girls and nothing about PDA - Pathological Demand Avoidance (now seen as a possible subgroup of autism by some professionals).

I mention this because it specifically mentions the ability to get lost in fantasy and to tend to prefer it over reality particularly in relation to coping with demands (such as having to go to school).


For me personally to cope with this I have what I used to call 'imaginary friends' (as a younger child) and then 'persona's or alter ego's.


In coping with social situations I have constantly had the experience of feeling like I was 'watching myself' or feeling that...'that wasn't me' doing that so I had 'successfully' ...avoided the demand.


Sometimes it was 'me' but I would pretend I was being filmed for a TV program so had to 'do it' (whatever it was...go to some social event or do some work) to show 'how it was done' for the imaginary TV program.


These seem to fit (I think) derealisation and depersonalisation and I wondered if PDA would therefore be classed as a form of dissociative disorder, due to the intense need to either get 'lost in fantasy' or 'disconnect from your 'self' in order to be able to 'get through life'?