I think there is consensus in this community that the DSM diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder could be significantly improved. Let’s say you were tasked to write the diagnostic entry for the Autism Spectrum Disorder in the DSM6. What would the entry look like?

  • What would be the criteria?

  • How many criteria would be required for a diagnosis?

  • What would be the specifiers if any?

  • What would the narrative elaboration include?

  • schmorpEnglish
    5•1 year ago

    I would remove the ‘disorder’ part. I’m not disordered, just different. My flavour of weirdness has certain advantages and disadvantages, but calling it disordered is very rude. Really. DSM, wtf, go home and stop being rude.

    then, after that being sorted, the criteria are:

    • other people and their concerns are very confusing
    • so confusing even animals and plants are easier to understand
    • there are patterns everywhere
    • I.NEED.TO.LEARN.EVERYTHING.THERE.IS.ABOUT.[TOPIC]!!!
    • zoom out … … … … ?? wat
    • there’s whole universes in my brain, I can make myself cry by telling myself sad stories. I didn’t hate make-believe as a kid because I considered it silly, I hated it because it hits too hard!
    • smol things!
    • BOMBSOPMEnglish
      3•1 year ago

      but calling it disordered is very rude. Really. DSM, wtf, go home and stop being rude.

      Thank you! I know we have certain difficulties, but some of the stuff can also be attributed to societal factors. It goes beyond that, but I really rather not get into that debate right now lol

      so confusing even animals and plants are easier to understand

      Yeah! Because they are direct and sincere. This kind of provides insight as to why I used to copy animal behaviors over human behaviors. 🤔

      there are patterns everywhere

      Yes! And even in the extreme cases when there seems to be no patterns, there are still angles.

      I.NEED.TO.LEARN.EVERYTHING.THERE.IS.ABOUT.[TOPIC]!!!

      I found out I was autistic as an adult. When I was in the doubting stage, the one thing that I never was able to argue against was this obsession with topics. I would go into these deep months-long dives into a topic to learn it as much as possible without any real practical use. Then, I would talk about it all the time to the point it was annoying. People that I saw infrequently would be like, “How’s the Russian Revolution?” and I would respond, “Oh…yeah. It’s good…but have you ever used the navigation system on a Cessna 152?! There are all these beacons throughout the entire world that you can use to assess your location blah blah blah…” lol

      zoom out … … … … ?? wat

      Yeah, too much information to process. If I need to understand the whole thing, I’m gonna need a theory please.

      I hated it because it hits too hard!

      🙁