caa a22 4500 388073551 CHVBK 20180307125155.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199912 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S079096670000553X doi S079096670000553X pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S079096670000553X Fitzgerald Michael Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland. Differential diagnosis of adolescent and adult pervasive developmental disorders/autism spectrum disorders (PDD/ASD): a not uncommon diagnostic dilemma [Elektronische Daten] [Michael Fitzgerald] The failure to recognise the pervasive developmental disorders/autism spectrum disorders is probably not uncommon in adult psychiatry. Indeed some of the treatment-resistant chronic mental illnesses are due to the failure to make this diagnosis and apply more appropriate treatment. Patients with PDD/ASD cause considerable diagnostic difficulties in both inpatient and outpatient adolescent and adult psychiatry. Clinical experience suggests that patients with PDD/ASD in adulthood have been misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia resulting in inappropriate treatment. Mesibov and Handlan state that the diagnostic situation is complicated because the characteristics of autism are less pronounced in older clients. It is critical that an accurate diagnosis is given because of the specific treatment implications. In the past decade there have been considerable developments in our understanding of autism. The importance of bringing the developmental viewpoint into adult psychiatry is now highly relevant. Unfamiliar diagnostic categories now have to be considered by adolescent and adult psychiatrists. Grounds for the deletion of adult psychiatric disorders, eg. simple schizophrenia from ICD102 may exist. Instead PDD/ASD disorder may need to be considered. As the purpose of diagnosis is to ensure appropriate client management, it is essential that diagnostic criteria are continually reviewed in view of clinical observation and research developments. In this paper, diagnostic categories causing confusion are outlined, and that these are variants of the core deficit of autism is suggested. The major PDD/ASD diagnoses in adolescence and adulthood are listed below. Two of the following are required for the diagnosis of autism: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999 Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine Cambridge University Press 16/4(1999-12), 145-148 0790-9667 16:4<145 1999 16 IPM https://doi.org/10.1017/S079096670000553X text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S079096670000553X text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Fitzgerald Michael Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine Cambridge University Press 16/4(1999-12), 145-148 0790-9667 16:4<145 1999 16 IPM CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge