Quote:
Originally Posted by InkyTinks
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'?
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to answer your question would autism problem called PDA be dissociation no it is not. it is in the autism category of problems.
if you go to your local library and research dissociation disorders in their medical / mental health data bases, you will find that, playing pretend, having imaginary friends, day dreaming, fantasy play actually disqualifies / rules out having dissociation problems. this has been a key criteria for ruling ........out...... dissociatiive disorders since 1994.
in most cases playing pretend, daydreaming and living in fantasy worlds is now considered completely normal. children are taught to use their imaginations from the moment they begin crawling over to their toys, they also learn to use their imaginations in school situations like head start, elementary high school and college. so in general that kind of behavior is considered to be completely normal,
Autism/ autism spectrum disorders / autistic problems have their own "grouping" mental health category.
if you think you may have autistic disorder problems or know someone with autistic disorder problems contact your treatment providers. they can give you information directly related to the problem you or your loved one may be experiencing.