Allen Frances, a former psychiatrist involved in the D.S.M.-IV updates, discusses the unexpected surge in autism diagnoses, attributing it to definitional changes and increased service availability. This diagnosis boom stems from school systems offering intensive support linked to autism diagnoses, incentivizing overdiagnosis, and ambiguous boundaries between normal behavior and disorders. Moreover, the misclassification of Asperger's Syndrome further complicated the diagnostic landscape. Additionally, misattributions of autism's causes, including vaccines and environmental factors, have been disproven, highlighting the necessity of careful diagnostic criteria.
Many school systems provide much more intensive services to children with the diagnosis of autism. Whenever having a diagnosis carries a benefit, it will be overused.
Overdiagnosis can happen whenever there's a blurry line between normal behavior and disorder, or when symptoms overlap with other conditions.
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