Apparently the writers of the DSM-V
are not believers of the quote “an individual is not their diagnosis”. According to the national alliance on mental
illness (NAMI), “mental illnesses are medical conditions that disrupt a person’s
thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relation to other and daily functioning”. Asperger's syndrome is a developmental
disorder that affects a person's social and communication skills as with others as per mayo clinic, however most
individuals with Aspergers syndrome are
able to work successfully in mainstream jobs, although they may need continued
encouragement and moral support to maintain an independent life.
According to the article by the Mayo Clinic
on Asperger’s syndrome it is an autism
spectrum disorder, although previously it was classified as its own diagnosis
in the DSM-IV-TR the proposal for the DSM-V is to reduce the various
autism-like disorders, including Asperger’s syndrome, to a single diagnostic category
for the disorders. As explained in the
Huffington Post article on the proposed changes, those individuals who have
Asperger’s syndrome and are functionally living independent would rather not be
labeled autistic. With this label, may
come stigmas and prejudices’ that could possibly have been avoided. Being that one of the biggest symptoms of
individuals with AS is their socialization skills, this may compound the
problem and force them to socially withdraw even more. It
just seems that this proposal is taking 2 steps backwards in our efforts to
fight mental illness stigmas. Hopefully with enough upheaval this proposed
change will not be made permanent.
Here are a my resources:
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