American Psychiatric Association: No Such Thing As Aspergers

Freaky, soulless, self-absorbed asshats, yes. Aspies, no. The APA is doing away with a clinical diagnosis of Aspergers since no one can figure out what the hell it is or if it actually exists. There will just be autism on a graduated scale.

From the DailyBeast here:

Asperger’s, Overdiagnosed, Ill Defined, May Not Be a Syndrome Much Longer

Psychiatrists working on the latest edition of their profession’s diagnostic manual are thought to be tightening the definition of autism and dispensing with Asperger’s completely.

It’s a reasonable question to ask in the midst of the furor over the American Psychiatric Association’s proposed changes to the way autism spectrum disorders are diagnosed. According to the plan, the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the profession’s standard diagnostic reference for mental disorders will not contain Asperger’s syndrome at all. Instead, all diagnoses of autism—of which Asperger’s is currently considered a subset—will be collapsed together onto one spectrum, and rated in gradations from mild to severe.

For all its clinical and cultural resonance, Asperger’s syndrome is still only a recent addition to the American diagnostic vocabulary. In the 18 years since it arrived, no one has been able to agree on what it is.

So Gary McKinnon, famed Aspergers sufferer who is using his self-diagnosis to prevent being extradited to the United States to face criminal charges, is now considered by the APA to be merely “daft” rather than having a real disease. Eat it, AssPies.