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darkshine

DSM V changes and dx

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So, what will I be after the new DSM is changed? What will it mean for people? Does it change anything? Why is it important?

 

Do people with AS get labelled with something else after they just get used to the words AS?

 

And will it mean that the criteria is wider or the same?

 

Does it mean anything else other than my narrow knowledge of things?

Edited by darkshine

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It possibly has a bigger impact in the US. Apparently in the US public school system Autism means you get access to various services - you don't if you are an Aspie. I don't know if there is/will be a diference between the two as far as education in the UK or if each child is assessed individually.

 

If the change happens I think we come out as High Functioning Autism..slightly more prosaic a title.Basically it becomes a spectrum.

 

I think there has been some tinkering with the criteria. How much psychiatrists will actually change their way of diagnosing should the criteria change in the UK remains to be seen.

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It will just mean more and more people will be lumped into the autistic spectrum, because the authorities don't wan't to spend the time and money investigating the real causes of a lot of these problems.

 

Your on the autistic spectrum, nothing we can do about it, it's genetic, no point in further investigations.

Edited by A and A

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Your on the autistic spectrum, nothing we can do about it, it's genetic, no point in further investigations.

 

 

Alternatively, "You're on the autistic spectrum, nothing you can do about it, it's partly genetic, no point in trying to get a different diagnosis that you'd like better".

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Alternatively, "You're on the autistic spectrum, nothing you can do about it, it's partly genetic, no point in trying to get a different diagnosis that you'd like better".

:lol:

 

I like your "in other words" Adam :thumbs: but I'm not a dx seeker, I have one already ;) whether or not I'm happy/comfortable with that is most definitely my problem... But to clarify to anyone - I'm not looking for a dx I'd like better cuz the only one I'd like better is NT - but I am not afraid of the word autistic - I just didn't know what the changes would do in terms of the health system, help, people and changes of terminology.

 

I wasn't sure whether it was a simple as "they are going to merge the whole lot and make it one spectrum" and even if that part is that simple. I do not know enough to know whether that would actually make anything any different or not - in terms of the wider picture as well as personally.

 

.........................................

 

I am hoping there is someone out there who knows more about this and the potential effects of it so that they can maybe explain the whole thing - just hoping is all for info, its always more info with me, also there is two sides to this (at least) because there's the side of the professionals and any differences it will make there, and then for people who are diagnosed or seeking diagnosis as their experience of it will differ, not to mention whatever I haven't thought of....

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I think it has the potential for simplifying things. There are a lot of discrepancies in terms of diagnosis label, especially on the higher functioning end of things, there were getting to be too many labels really. I mean HFA/AS/PDD-NOS/LFA/Classic Autism/Kanners Autism, I know of plenty of people who would fit some boxes of one and some of another. I'm kind of glad that they are rolling it all into one, hopefully the emphasis will be on the individual person rather than the label as such, so that they can get the appropriate help not what people think they should get because they have one particular label on the spectrum. I have a relative that has a kid who was diagnosed with classic autism/LFA and now they are older actually they are more like the people I know with HFA/AS. Autism is autism, it's just the degree to which the individual is affected by it that matters, why have so many labels? :unsure::wacko:

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I think it has the potential for simplifying things. There are a lot of discrepancies in terms of diagnosis label, especially on the higher functioning end of things, there were getting to be too many labels really. I mean HFA/AS/PDD-NOS/LFA/Classic Autism/Kanners Autism, I know of plenty of people who would fit some boxes of one and some of another. I'm kind of glad that they are rolling it all into one, hopefully the emphasis will be on the individual person rather than the label as such, so that they can get the appropriate help not what people think they should get because they have one particular label on the spectrum. I have a relative that has a kid who was diagnosed with classic autism/LFA and now they are older actually they are more like the people I know with HFA/AS. Autism is autism, it's just the degree to which the individual is affected by it that matters, why have so many labels? :unsure::wacko:

But it's not just a question of getting appropriate help - it's also about how people on the spectrum are perceived by others

Edited by indiscreet

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I think it has the potential for simplifying things. There are a lot of discrepancies in terms of diagnosis label, especially on the higher functioning end of things, there were getting to be too many labels really. I mean HFA/AS/PDD-NOS/LFA/Classic Autism/Kanners Autism, I know of plenty of people who would fit some boxes of one and some of another. I'm kind of glad that they are rolling it all into one, hopefully the emphasis will be on the individual person rather than the label as such, so that they can get the appropriate help not what people think they should get because they have one particular label on the spectrum. I have a relative that has a kid who was diagnosed with classic autism/LFA and now they are older actually they are more like the people I know with HFA/AS. Autism is autism, it's just the degree to which the individual is affected by it that matters, why have so many labels? :unsure::wacko:

I can see what your saying

 

But it's not just a question of getting appropriate help - it's also about how people on the spectrum are perceived by others

and annoyingly I can see what you mean too!

 

Aaargh :wacko: See what I mean? It's quite complicated the more you think about it!

 

ScienceGeek - that's exactly why I can see that it might be a good thing because of the cross-overs and variations and it can get confusing

 

Indiscreet - perception is important and I fear that if all types of autism become on a single spectrum, how will they differentiate? Or will all the other terms that ScienceGeek listed still apply apart from AS and also if not, will it turn into like a rating scale :unsure:

 

This is exactly why I asked this question cuz the more I wonder the more impossible it gets to understand, and on top of that, I also have huge gaps in my knowledge of things about this having only been dx a few months ago so am relatively new to the topic as well.

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My drs already use HFA/AS/ASD all interchangeably which to an outsider would be rather confusing. Some people are quite attached to a particular label but I'm not really that bothered it doesn't change who I am as a person wether it is called HFA/AS/ASD the difficulties I have are still the same no matter what label you put on it.

 

The perceptions that I've come across since diagnosis is that somehow being "high functioning" is autism lite and there aren't any significant difficulties (mostly from people whose only knowledge of autism is of classic autism). I don't think changing the diagnostic labels are really going to change peoples perceptions of those on the spectrum, but it may be helpful from the diagnostic side of things and save a lot of confusion. I like the fact that it acknowledges that it is a spectrum and a person could be at any point on the spectrum.

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:lol:

 

I like your "in other words" Adam :thumbs: but I'm not a dx seeker, I have one already ;) whether or not I'm happy/comfortable with that is most definitely my problem...

 

 

It was aimed more at A and A, who seems to think that a lot of these 'problems' have other, 'real' causes.

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I think I prefer the change. ASD is a spectrum disorder. Nobody 100% fits the criterias we have now. And everyone seems to make assumptions about the child/adult depending on whether they are ASD or have crossed the fence into AS territory.

 

I think that those with AS are often considered to not really need help or support, when that is so unfair. Whilst those with 'ASD' or 'Autism' are sometimes considered not capable of achieving much, when that is also not true.

 

An autistic spectrum disorder covers such a wide range of difficulties, each one being on a spectrum from mild to severe, and each person may have co-morbid difficulties, again each section being on a range from mild to severe.

 

I would hope that this "umbrella" term, actually allows professionals to properly assess each person to find out their strengths and weaknesses and support them accordingly.

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I guess some people will just carry on calling it whatever they want, and in that way the label doesn't really say what the person's problems are cuz there are so many differences in different areas.

 

I can see how having "a split" is also unhelpful for people's perceptions but how many people are really gonna take the effort to try and understand that there are big differences and appreciate that those differences aren't the same for everybody? The medical profession do seem to like their little boxes - they seem to like having one list of "symptoms" and then using one list of prescribed actions on everybody. They don't seem to always grasp the concept that different things work for different people (in my experience).

 

The split in thinking though is unhelpful I think - as sally pointed out - it really impacts on perceived expectations (or lack of as the case may be)...

 

But yeah, the acknowledgement of it being a spectrum makes sense, but the article I read never mentioned dropping hfa or any others like PDD-NOS - do you know will they be included too? So that everything is under "one umbrella" term?

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It was aimed more at A and A, who seems to think that a lot of these 'problems' have other, 'real' causes.

oooooh :lol: well I did wonder but you might have just been correcting A and A and I figured I might as well clarify so that my position was clear :lol:

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From what I can gather from reading the information so far about DSM V is that HFA/AS will be subsumed into ASD and they haven't decided wether they will do the same for PDD-NOS or wether that is a separate condition that still needs its own label.

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Quote from Dr Frances,chairamn of the DSM 111 committe talking to journalist Jon Ronson when talking about diagnostic mistakes. "its very easy to set off a false epedemic in psychiatry, and we inadvertently contributed to three that are ongoing now"(Jon Ronson)..."Which are they?"

 

'Autisim,attention deficit,and childhood bi polar' he said..

John Ronson ...'How did you do it?

Dr Frances...'With autisim it was mostly adding Aspergers's ,which was a much milder form'...'The rates of diagnosis of autistic disorder wnet from less than one in two thousand to more than one in a hundred.Many kids who would have been called eccentric,different,were suddenly labelled autistic.'

He goes on to say that childhood bi polar does not exist and purports the idea that many behavioural diagnosis are for the benefits of parents anxieties.

 

The DSM manual is a guide,and is not based on research or empirical data ,it's merely OPINION.

It mainly serves the drug companies.

Edited by philipo

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The DSM manual is a guide,and is not based on research or empirical data ,it's merely OPINION.

It mainly serves the drug companies.

Even if its just a guide for dx criteria, the "health professionals" all use it and write things in reports which can then effect people's lives - like the quote you put in - like rising numbers diagnosed, but also with what happens to people after that diagnosis in terms of management and care.

 

It must be based on some research philipo cuz they can't just pluck it all out of the air - empirical data is possibly problematic due to the lack of a single set of criteria that fits everyone meaning they have to generalise to a degree.

 

Back to your quote, I guess no-one can ever know beforehand what these changes are going to bring about - hindsight is a wonderful thing. I wouldn't mind if I was just eccentric, or even just different - to a degree I can handle being different, its all the things that are supremely difficult or impossible (at first glance at least) that makes the difference isn't it?

 

Rambling... ;)

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Plus that's a quote from DSM III whereas we are now on DSM V so that must have been a rather old quote! :whistle:

 

the quote from a book that came out this year.The DSM manuals were origionally designed to collect statistics.What happens is is numerous American mental health proffesionals have a conference and offer a list of SYMPTOMS and propose a name or label,in time these agreed upon labels become a 'disorder'.In the last 25 years mental health proffesionals have re invented themselves with the aid of this manual and the drugs companies.It concentrates on symptoms and has nothing to say about treatment/causes.the drug industry welcomes it and how it creates massive markets to alleviate 'symptoms'.goverment health accountants love it because they know that drug treatment is much cheaper than 'therapy'.

The real danger for as/asd/autisim is that the (d)isability will be reduced to a 'mental health impairment' and those with these kinds of problems will become guinea pigs for the drugs industry (as many already are persuaded to take drugs more commonly prescribed for serious mental health conditions) and that people who have 'Autisim' in its traditional sense will be seen as 'handicapped'/mentally feeble.the only thing i see positive in the new evaluation is the seperating of needs for individuals.

The massive rise in the normalisation of tranqueliser/ant anxiety addiction says it all.

In my medical 'care' home for instance alot of staff are very dissasociated from whats happening with the residents,a few of us have worked out that they are pilled up on amyltripterlene and unable to follow simple instructions!.They burn food,spend their time in the office on the internet all day and rarley talk to residents.I can spot most users of anti depressants as easy as i can spot potheads and junkie/methadone heads and alkies.

In the day to day world people will be offerd pills,drugs to 'normalise' behaviour,not expensive therapy and coping strategies,that cost a lot more....

Remember ...the establishment mental health sevices still use ECT,without any scientific/statistical research.i propose that electricution or serious mental/physical trauma would have the same effect on a variety of 'mental illnesses'.

Ironically...for me...receiving a head injury in a motocycle accident has 'calmed 'me down enough to understand my asd.The problem of the new DSM is that it's more an intellectual abstarction and not based on trials /research into as/asd//autisim.Meanwhile its comforting to many to accept a 'label' rather than think their way through.there are many advantages to a late diagnosis.Consider this.The works of a cocaine addcit called Sigmund Freud are the main basis of physcology.I'd prefer it if anthropologists and biologists were given more credance than psyhcologists as their observation have much more objectivity and provable science behind them.

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Bloooody hell philipo - that's a refreshingly dark, negative and depressive view - ECT, coke addicts and tranquillized zombies ;)

 

Where do I start? (I should be studying!!!) :lol:

 

Psychologists aren't all useless and provable science doesn't work for everything, you can't statistical measure subjective feelings, perceptions, emotions etc in a truly scientific way because they are subjective, and as such is open to interpretation and therefore becomes questionable in terms of true science.

 

What needs to happen is a merging of both types, where they listen to each other and allow each others' research and knowledge to inform and enlighten their own research and knowledge in order to gain more knowledge.

 

I can't argue the pill thing as that has been my experience and I've also been informed by a shrink ;) that this is the case to a degree.

 

As I see it there just isn't the interest, the money, or the acceptance of therapies in this country yet.

 

I often joke that I wish I lived in America, but don't forget!!!! they pay for their health care and if you don't have the cash you don't always get the help.

 

Change takes time, there's still a lot of stigmas around disabilities (especially "invisible" ones) but the ball is rolling - as they say...

 

So, to summarise - you reckon its gonna help or not :P

 

(the edit is to say this - I am going to study now! ;) )

Edited by darkshine

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For the medical establishment ,the new limited awareness of hfa,means that they will be strarting from nearly scratch,and being overworked,underfunded and underinformed they have .quite rightly,decided on the dsm interpretation of level of need/assistance.The reality will be DRUGS,MORE DRUGS and NEW DRUGS for most.Above ASD's class is everything and how much money you have will mean a great difference in treatment.NHS proles will be drugged up by staff who know no better and who unconciously will treat people with asd's,as mental health cases.

By taking the drugs people will get tempory releif,followed by screwed up brain chemistry symptoms,i.e.drug dependent so whats the difference between an NHS addict or a pothead or smackie/alkie apart from free drugs and more socially accepted 'habit'.

Its clearly a biological difference with brain/body chemistry that causes ASD's and to let the 'mental health' experts wade in a set a course of 'treatment' for somthing they have little grasp on will create misery in the long term for most 'Afflicted'.Buts thats going to be much cheaper and easier than bringing in legislation on equality,or extra testing of electrical appliances and introduction of noise legislation.Judging by my experiences of the nhs over 35 years I'm saying all you can expect is mass crapulence and misinterpretation.The nhs will obviously work with vested interest groups that have already accepted the myth of drug treatment.

I firmly beleive that many of the symptoms ,particulary mood swings/depression/sleep problems are made far worse by being treated with drugs designed for shizophrenic/pshycotic/manic behaviour.Check out the fraudelent drug trials for these 'medications'.many like Seroxat were done on american prisioners!!!So the UK follows America again...Trust yourselfs.

As a parent another big concern I have is seeing many parents rushing to get their kids diagnosed with various disorders.This just stignmatises the kids for what I beleive is a parenting problem.it seems that some parents would rather give their kids drugs than teach them unpleasant behavioural facts,like power/control issues .Things that are not sorted out in 'the terrible two's' come back with a vengance in early teens.The wider interpretation of ASD has clouded these issues and parents with money have gone to 'specialists' to have their childrens behaviour 'diagnosed'.I know they hav'nt found a cure for cancer(there's loads of types though and a magic bullet is an absurdity) but ASD/AS/hfa/Autisim should clearly show biological evidence as there are numerous PHYSICAL symptoms,and thus,STOP BEING TREATED AS A MENTAL ILLNESS.The drugs don't work ,mostly.

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To be objective as possible we must mostly forget about the mind.Depression/anxiety/bi polar/shcizophrenia/mani depression/etc.....these are SYMPTOMS.The DSM is all about SYMPTOMS,not clear defined,backed by research ILLNESES.

I would only accept my dx at 48 because the PHYSICAL effects were the most cruelly objective,completly standing alone from 'mental health' definitions.The shrinks are unaware that they are the hidden hand in their own experiments.They make a good living diagnosing others and will never examine some of their true primal motives.Thats why everyone and his dog is training to be a Cognitve behaviour expert.just like the late 80's when all the intellectually challenged decide to train as 'Counsellors'.Then it was REIKI,Its an intellectual fashion and most 'mental health' descriptions are the same.Questioning the higher order of things is unusal but by understanding the proximal power situation betweem 'experts' and the subjects who ask the 'experts' we can easily see that social pomp.position/beleif systems are the main reason why many people get undignose/misdiagnosed .And its all based on a book called DSM that provides a fantastic oppertunty to mislabel people and sell drugs.

Concentrate on the body and its symptoms and stop getting wrapped up in defintitions that are not relevant to AS?ASD?AUTISM?HFA like depression anxiety manic 'personality disorders.

Your body knows whats going on ,trust your inner monkey.Not an abstract mental health peice of string.Where is the research and statistical data for the DSM model?Its vested interest group /peer OPINION.

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It concentrates on symptoms and has nothing to say about treatment/causes.the drug industry welcomes it and how it creates massive markets to alleviate 'symptoms'

 

 

If it concentrates on symptoms and has nothing to say about treatment, why would any drug manufacturer welcome it?

 

Remember ...the establishment mental health sevices still use ECT,without any scientific/statistical research.

 

 

Remember...not all the facts you think you know are true. There has been extensive scientific and statistical research into ECT, just as there has been for any medical intervention.

 

The works of a cocaine addcit called Sigmund Freud are the main basis of physcology.I'd prefer it if anthropologists and biologists were given more credance than psyhcologists as their observation have much more objectivity and provable science behind them.

 

I think you might be confusing psychology and psychoanalysis. Wilhelm Wundt - and countless psychologists - wouldn't thank you for that.

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The DSM is all about SYMPTOMS,not clear defined,backed by research ILLNESES.

 

 

The DSM is all about mental illnesses. If you know of a way of identifying and classifying mental illnesses that isn't based on symptoms, then you need to get in touch with the psychiatric and neurological professions because you have an unparalleled insight into the workings of the human brain. Meanwhile, I expect mental health professionals will continue using a manual that they know has been developed through research and does have clearly defined diagnostic criteria.

 

You seem to be unhappy with your diagnosis, or perhaps only with other people's responses to it. The problem here appears not to be the profession that diagnosed you, nor the manual that contains your diagnosis, but society's view of people who share your diagnosis.

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The DSM is all about mental illnesses. If you know of a way of identifying and classifying mental illnesses that isn't based on symptoms, then you need to get in touch with the psychiatric and neurological professions because you have an unparalleled insight into the workings of the human brain.

 

 

Thats why Doctors,vets ,zookeepers,farmers and anthropologists are better ,they do research in the real world

 

There is no objectivity DSM IS POST MODERN RELIGION

 

As you said DSM is all about mental illness,keep taking the pills.

Are there any surveys/research into successfull outcomes of DRUGS and MENTAL ILLNESS?

 

So its ok for people the use DSM as a bible,but try building an aeroplane or potatoe peelers or cd players with the same 'science'!!!!!

 

ASD/AS/Autisim is a physical illness,not a mental health condition.

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I think you both are using the term mental illness in different ways here.

 

Philipo's right, AS is not a mental illness in terms of the definition used for things like schizophrenia, bi-polar etc

 

I think Adam is using it terms of the DSM classes ASD as mental-illness in terms of the manual, but it doesn't mean it in the same way maybe. Technically people say their brain is "wired different" kind of thing, which the word mental then refers to mind, and illness refers to not functioning in a "normal" or "typical" way.

 

Or should i just shut up ;)

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I sort of understand and agree with both sides.

 

My son was not coping in school and was showing all kinds of worrying behaviour and threats of suicide.

 

What I found really frustrating is that I could track the letters and emails I had sent to school over the last two years tracking his decline which I could see, and which my son was telling me, was due to him not being able to cope in school because of a number of difficulties which were academic, social, emotional, sensory.

 

But instead of the school or 'system' looking at and addressing any of these issues, we were referred on to CP and a Psychiatrist. Thankfully both said that he was not mentally ill and would not prescribe any drugs (which I would not have accepted anyway). They said it was due to an outstanding number of educational issues.

 

But where we are now is in limbo. Not at school, no education, no therapy, no sessions with CP/psychiatrist because he is not mentally ill. No-one doing anything. He is happy at home, but he has to return into the real world at some point and no one is putting a plan together.

 

I can see how some children/adults are medicated because it makes it easier for the school or society to cope, and maybe the individuals themselves feel doped enough to numb the anxiety. But what kind of existance is that.

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The medical establishment is not inherently evil,just like many other areas of study,mostly 30 years behind.Firstly we have ourselves and our actions,asking the docs usually results in PILLS FOR SYMPTOMS!!!!The pills (not in all cases)lead to addiction and side effects,like serotonin problems.Even the education service are behind with it,rather than spendind more money on teachers and classroom assistants ,special needs workers,they are going along with new DSM definitions rather than getting back to smaller classes and less poltical interference in teaching.Its a brave parent in these days of ever more SOCIAL CONFIRMITY who teaches their children themselves.Apart from the hard work of teaching the social pressure are immense with others attitudes.Looking back ,especially in employment/politics/money, as a society weve never been more robotic and conformist than ever.The way its going it wont be long before the whole population is taking drugs/alchohol and anti pscyhcotic medicine.

 

DSM creates 'semi quasi disorders' from symptoms,and assigns these symptoms to 'mental health'.Completly ignoring the social economic and enviromental factors,just like we're supposed to look the other way after an illegal war in Iraq thats killed 300k plus civillians, a distintergration in public services,student fees,and all the while expected to pay more.Television ...drug of a nation.

 

Social contol is the biggest assault on people with disabilities and the definitions of mental illness increase with more social control.

Thats why I'm ever happier in woodland ,collecting my own water,hunting and fishing when I should be living at my 'care' home staffed by amylltriptaline zombies who serve unhealthy cheap freezer food and are worried about their jobs and morgates ,ahh thank you asd/as/autisim.I always thought i was mad for 30 years,now I realise I'll live a lot longer...No drugs or irrelevant socialisation for me,back in a week.cao!

trust yourself,we mostly get let down by our own silly expectations...especially from the nhs!

 

ps money tip....sell i pads.... buy sacks of flower and pasta.

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Like most things it all boils down to money and expertise.

 

It is very obvious the reasons why my son is not coping in school, but addressing the "cause" costs alot more money than trying to get him labelled with some kind of anxiety disorder with the possibility of being treated with pills. I'm not saying medication is completely no-go for ever, because it may become something useful. But not when he is a child and not when adaptations and changes in approaches and strategies have not been even tried yet, and he is not being supported.

 

And there is a big divide between "education" and "health". Health professionals cannot make education carry out their recommendations, and they are funded from different pots.

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Had to find an internet cafe....listen to radio 4....the countrys mainly on drugs and anti psyhcotic drugs are a mass epedemic in America.

 

 

The origional meaning of health was 'wellbeingness' .Celebrate difference...nature knows what she's doing.Saw nhs cbt psyhcologist today ,ended up talking about the misuse of mental health drugs,he said they are usefull short term but longer usuage causes more problems than what they are worth.He also thought that concentrating on physical symptoms/clear learning impairments was best to diagnose asd/as/autisim/hfa whatever. .

 

I 'd rather live with a load of 'demanding' people who have lots of mini cisises than a world of chemical normality.Drugs arrest evolution and cause a tendency to stasis.The problems of asd/as/autisim whatever is the seperation of needs ,rather than the 'holistic' approach,or as many people call it, 'Joined up thinking'.Maybe its the natural atrophy of intellectual specialisms,aimed more at the vested interests of 'specialists' than the 'clients'they are supposed to help. I personally beleive drugs encorage denial in the proffesional establishment of individual needs.

Remember the people who have asd/as/autisim who can't even clearly verbalise their experience and count yourselfs lucky that computers now mean that many (d)isabled with handwriting problems can now write their experience and that they can at last be read by others.

 

isability

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If the change happens I think we come out as High Functioning Autism..slightly more prosaic a title.Basically it becomes a spectrum.

 

But few people not on the spectrum have any knowledge of spectrums and they'll hear the word 'autism' and not the words 'high functioning'. Or if they do they may assume that a high functioning autistic still may not function as highly as a neurotypical.

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The origional meaning of health was 'wellbeingness' .Celebrate difference...nature knows what she's doing.Saw nhs cbt psyhcologist today ,ended up talking about the misuse of mental health drugs,he said they are usefull short term but longer usuage causes more problems than what they are worth.He also thought that concentrating on physical symptoms/clear learning impairments was best to diagnose asd/as/autisim/hfa whatever. .

I agree with your cbt psychologist, in the short term they are fine, but people who need coping skills etc would by far benefit from being helped to learn how to do that and therefore save money on pills, and shorten the lists of people seeing docs and stuff.

 

I think a lot of it comes back to the old favourite of not enough resources, and a lot of smaller charity groups are being forced to close down or are struggling because if spending cuts. Not the best time for wanting a perfect heath system really - but then again it probably never will be :rolleyes:

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The way its going it wont be long before the whole population is taking drugs/alchohol and anti pscyhcotic medicine.

Yes dear. :rolleyes:

 

Mmm :wine::drunk:

 

buy sacks of flower.

Thanks for the tip, but I prefer my flowers in pots, vases and bunches. :)

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Alternatively, "You're on the autistic spectrum, nothing you can do about it, it's partly genetic, no point in trying to get a different diagnosis that you'd like better".

 

Just looking for some real answers. Partly genetic is a cop out. More like we don't really have a clue what the cause is, so we'll cross our fingers and hope it's genetic. After all autism is a name given to a group of symptoms, many illnesses share similar symptoms. Lumping them all together and not doing any further investigations will mean some will be wrongly diagnosed and forgotten about, when there could be some real help out there for them. The Autistic spectrum needs to be broken up, if they really wan't to find some answers.

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Just looking for some real answers. Partly genetic is a cop out. More like we don't really have a clue what the cause is, so we'll cross our fingers and hope it's genetic. After all autism is a name given to a group of symptoms, many illnesses share similar symptoms. Lumping them all together and not doing any further investigations will mean some will be wrongly diagnosed and forgotten about, when there could be some real help out there for them. The Autistic spectrum needs to be broken up, if they really wan't to find some answers.

 

Not necessarily - for example "diabetes" is a diagnosis given to a group of symptoms - it an be caused by a variety of diferent things, but ultimately the symptoms and therefore the treatment is the same so why not call it the same thing? (I know this really peeves off a number of type 1 (genetic & environmental) and type 3 (co-morbidity) diabetics, who get lumped in with type 2's with their "evironmental and lifestyle causes")

 

Until we find a way of PREVENTING any illness/condition, the only relevant information for diagnosis IS symptoms for treatment..... obviously this does not mean we should not be researching the causes, an looking for that prevention - but treatment atm is based on symptoms

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