Autism Spectrum Disorder

By Lily Phan (Principal Counsellor | Provisional Psychologist)

Every person is a different kind of flower,
and all together make this world a beautiful garden.

So this is a bit of a different blog post from me; it is something a bit more personal but hopefully still somewhat informative. I work with children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in assessment, diagnosis, and support/intervention. And guess what? I have never met an individual with ASD who is the same as another, and that's the beauty of it. 

​ASD is often described as an empathy disorder because the core impairments are visible in social behaviours and interactions (Decety & Meyer, 2008; Gillberg, 1992). What this means is, oftentimes individuals with ASD can come across as blunt, rude and insensitive, when really they may just have meant their interactions to be matter-of-fact. This can be quite upsetting for the person on the receiving end of these social interactions, and understandably so. However, this frustration is not restricted to just the receiver, and the individual with ASD may also experience varying degrees of confusion. 

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fifth Edition (DSM-V; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) also requires an individual with the diagnosis of ASD to have the presence of restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). What this means is, individuals with ASD have a narrow range of interests or behaviours they engage in over and over again, whether that be dinosaurs, frogs or bugs. Routines and structures also tend to rate quite highly, and when this is disrupted, emotions and actions that can be witnessed can seem quite disproportional to the event.

I enjoy the variety of presentations that come with my work, and working with clients who present with only ASD is definitely different to working with, say someone with only an anxiety disorder. However, having a diagnosis of ASD does not exempt an individual from having an anxiety disorder (such as generalised anxiety disorder, agoraphobia or social anxiety disorder). Individuals with ASD may also have other diagnoses such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and gender dysphoria, among others.

Mental health needs to have diagnoses and labels so that research and treatments can be found, however, although mental health stigma has decreased over the years, it still exists (American Psychiatric Association, 2018). What do I think of when individuals present with a diagnosis or more? I see those labels as challenges they are experiencing, and help them identify goals in treatment so they can live their best life. 

​
References:
American Psychiatric Association. (2018). Among college students, mental health diagnosis and treatment are up, stigma is down.  https://www.psychiatry.org/newsroom/news-releases/among-college-students-mental-health-diagnosis-and-treatment-are-up-stigma-is-down.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®). American Psychiatric Pub.
Decety, J., & Meyer, M. L. (2008). From emotion resonance to empathic understanding: A social developmental neuroscience account. Developmental Psychopathology, 20: 1053–80.
Gillberg, C. (1992). Subgroups in autism: Are there behavioral phenotypes typical of underlying medical conditions? Journal of Intellect Disability Research, 36: 201–14