Conference paper

WHEN ASPERGER’S DISORDER CAME OUT

Chloe Gamlin ; School of Clinical Medicine University of Cambridge, Lucy Cavendish College University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Abstract

Background: In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association removed Asperger’s Disorder from the DSM, offering instead the
new DSM-5 diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder. This change has been hailed the most controversial exclusion from the DSM, yet unlike the 1973 removal of homosexuality from DSM-III, Asperger’s disorder has not been demedicalised. Rather, the disorder has simply been reclassified as part of the DSM-5 Autism Spectrum and therefore retains its fundamental characteristic as a mental disorder owing to its inclusion within the sphere of the DSM.
Methods: This paper is based on a review of the current academic literature in conjunction with careful reading of the DSM-5.
Results: Removing the Asperger’s label, valued by patients for its distinctiveness from autism brings with it the potential to inflict iatrogenic harm.
Discussion: This paper demonstrates how the DSM-5 reclassification has the potential to threaten the identity of those affected,
and discusses the problem of autism as a stigmatizing diagnostic label.
Conclusions: A case is made for the use of tandem social/colloquial – medical/technical terminology to refer to the conditions
classified under DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder, in order to square the circle of social concerns regarding identity and stigma
with the need for diagnostic clarity to continue to advance medical practice.

Keywords

autism; Asperger’s; DSM-5; stigma

Hrčak ID:

263801

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/263801

Publication date:

15.6.2017.

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