Aspergser’s Label may Disappear
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Psychologists are proposing to eliminate Asperger’s from the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 2012. Instead, the condition would be grouped in the category of autism spectrum disorders.
The change, if it takes place, will likely cause controversy among parents and professionals alike. Psychologists considering the change say there is a range in autism from mild or high functioning, two profoundly disabling. |
The proposed changes to the autism category are part of a bigger overhaul that will largely replace the old “you have it or you don’t” model of mental illness with a more modern view — that psychiatric disorders should be seen as a continuum, with many degrees of severity. The goal is to develop “severity measures within each diagnosis,” said Dr. Darrel A. Regier, research director at the American Psychiatric Association and vice chairman of the diagnostic manual’s task force.
To learn more about the proposed changes read A Powerful Identity, a Vanishing Diagnosis from The New York Times.
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