DSM-5 and ASD

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to do some research for school, and one of the things I've been asked to look into is the perceptions of the Asperger's community on the new changes to the DSM-5 that specifies everything be lumped under the umbrella of an ASD. I would love to hear anyone's perspective on how this change does or does not influence your life (in any way!).

Thanks so much!
Jacq

I live outside of the U.S. so it doesn't overly affect me either way since we don't use the DSM as our only source of classifications.

That said, if I did live in the U.S., I'd be pretty annoyed by it. Even though they are all part of the same spectrum, they have enough differences to be treated as such instead of being lumped in under one category with no room for the differences. Limiting it in such a way will mean there may well be people with AS who do not get diagnosed any more because they don't fit enough of the Autism only diagnostic criteria.

Thanks for your thoughts Rosska. I don't believe that they changed the diagnostic criteria though (re: less people being diagnosed), so it theoretically shouldn't change things in that way.

I would imagine it would be difficult if you identified as having Aspergers and then that label or point of reference was taken away in a matter of speak.

The change has affected me. The psychologist who assessed me in the fall said that a year before I would have been diagnosed as having Asperger's, but he wasn't sure that I met the criteria for an ASD diagnosis. His final report was even less clear, saying that I almost meet the criteria for several things and that ASD was possible. He suggested that I follow up with a psychiatrist for further testing, which I did a few weeks ago. Last week she called and said that she was going with Asperger's, so I guess she is still using DSM-IV. I'm not sure it would have had any affect on my treatment, but it didn't help give me any answers about how I fit in the world. Both said they didn't like the change in DSM5.

I've read several articles showing that there are measurable differences between individuals diagnosed with autism and Asperger's for both EEG and fMRI images. I don't think this is too surprising as they were selected by different criteria, but they were different other ways rather than just showing more of a change from the general population.

ASD as a generalization might make finding information easier to find, but I suspect that someone new being diagnosed with ASD wouldn't know to look for information about Asperger's unless they had prior knowledge or were told about it.

I've been wondering why they didn't create a unipolar depression spectrum out of MDD, dysthymia (which I've also been diagnosed with), SAD, etc., or a bipolar spectrum.

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

If someone has an aspergers diagnoses they'd still be considered on the autism spectrum and wont lose their diagnoses....I've looked at the critera and it looks like people with AS would still fit. Also there is room for differences it is a spectrum....so there are different severity and differences in how it effects each individual the new classification hardly suggests we're all exactly the same

I don't really see it as effecting me too much, either way I am on the autism spectrum....and I doubt the term aspergers will disappear entirely, it just wont exist as an official diagnoses. I personally don't see a significant 'difference' between aspergers and autism typically people considered having aspergers tend to be more mild but that seems to be about it its not like enough difference to make them different disorders.

The only real difference between asperger's and high functioning autism was whether or not there had been a language delay in learning to talk. A lot of kids with autism grow up to be just like people with asperger's syndrome, and some had their diagnoses changed as adults, which I think was questionable under the old criteria. It makes sense to me to include asperger's and PDDNOS under Autistic Spectrum Disorders, as that was always what they were. My brother was diagnosed PDDNOS because he also had a schizophrenia diagnosis and the old criteria made that a disqualification from Asperger's or autism. Under the new criteria he would be ASD. People previously diagnosed with any of these are by definition included in the new ASD criteria. I don't think that the criteria were meant to make it harder to qualify for the diagnosis, but to be more inclusive. As a therapist, I interpret the new criteria that way. If someone would have met the old criteria for Asperger's, I would diagnose ASD. It doesn't change anything IMO if the person had actually been evaluated and recognized as having one of these disorders prior to the publication of the DSM-V or not.