Asperger syndrome is no more

[Just17]

http://www.independent.ie/health/asperger-syndrome-is-no-more-3320150.html

The removal of Asperger syndrome from the psychiatric lexicon of disorders is what has just been announced.

When the next edition (DSM 5) is published in 2013 it will not contain Asperger's. Instead it will be replaced by a single term that will also include autism. The new combination will simply be called "autistic spectrum disorder" and it will be measured on a scale from mild to severe.

[Tony]

"...Asperger believed that this condition was related to autism, but unlike autism, intellectual functioning was high. In 1981 a famous child psychiatrist in London, the late Lorna Wing, wrote a paper on the subject describing a case series she had treated. This helped popularise the term and by 1994 it was included in the diagnostic bible of psychiatrists in the US, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th edition (DSM-IV)."

"...This tome, published every 10-15 years, details the symptoms required for every recognised psychiatric condition known to the psychiatric profession. The inclusion of a new diagnostic syndrome, such as Asperger's, is of huge significance since it will attract funding for research, just as its removal will have the opposite effect."

"...For many diagnosed with the condition this will be seen as a huge blow since research into this unusual condition will cease."

I doubt therapy and investigation into Asperger's would cease, it already has such a high profile, plus each Doctor dealing with people who have it are already treating it, so ... maybe just an attempt by government to cut back on its funding is the major dynamic here ?

This action will test whether Psychiatrists really do read the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual."

[Linux-Blue]

this topic brought me down memory lane. I knew a girl with this, and I was very happy with her. there were complications but when things got better, I figured, here's a long term friend. I was wrong, she left me.