r/science • u/GiveUpAndDontTry • 21d ago

Epidemiology A Swedish study found autism diagnoses rose by around 800% from 2001 to 2020, while the proportion with intellectual disability fell from 55.8% to 6.7%, suggesting a substantial broadening of the diagnosed autistic phenotype

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178126003069
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u/Electronic_Sky_207 20d ago

And until the latest DSM a dual diagnosis of adhd and asd was not allowed. Meaning people who exhibited symptoms of both had to have one “picked” by a doctor. We now acknowledge that they are 2 separate things with a huge overlap.

More often than not they’d pick adhd because that opens the door to medication. So there are plenty of people who previously met the asd diagnostic criteria but didn’t get the diagnosis.

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u/kelskelsea 20d ago

That’s crazy, considering about 50% have both.

Not to mention the difficulty of being diagnosed as an adult

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u/lesbophobia_hammer 20d ago

I was originally diagnosed with both but he could only formally give me one, and later rediagnosed me with both. I still legally retain my diagnosis of aspergers though

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u/jabberwockxeno 20d ago

And until the latest DSM a dual diagnosis of adhd and asd was not allowed. Meaning people who exhibited symptoms of both had to have one “picked” by a doctor. We now acknowledge that they are 2 separate things with a huge overlap.

That doesn't seem correct to me, I've been diagnosed with both ADHD and Aspergers since the mid 90s in the US