Published on 12, July, 2020
Are there any adults on here with PDA? I'd really like to hear more about how this manifests. I've read the stuff on it on the site. What kinds of avoidance might be included in the condition and how severe does it get? Does it include everything or only certain activities for you? Would you include a "rigid reluctance to engage in life for your own benefit" beyond the avoidance of suggestions from others? Or is it very specific? Thanks.
Aiiii, had not heard of it before but that sounds like ME... I've got classic autism (well, the DSM-5 thing where you check all the boxes) but you would never ever be able to tell. BUT I have meltdowns when I get forces in social interactions. And I have a nasty manipulative side. And I avoid lots of situations. And have a major lack of hierarchy understanding.
When I was little I was always manipulating others into doing what I wanted.
Wasn't aware this even existed. Only got diagnosed some weeks ago.
Thanks for the post!
After sending that last post, I wondered if perhaps it wasn't very helpful. Maybe a bit too positive? You have just had the diagnosis and it is obviously worrying you. I haven't been diagnosed, but a few days ago, when I started thinking I probably had some version of PDA, I felt terrible!
Since then I have been trying to focus on the more positive sides -- that it is a better explanation of what has happened in my life than what I thought before.
But I am still getting the same intense anxiety when I try to do stuff -- thinking that either I don't want to do it, or that if I do, it is all going to be wrong. Then I start worrying about everything that I haven't done that I should have done. All the people I should be getting in touch with that I haven't got in touch with. All that stuff...
Well I am going to shut up now and stop going on about myself, hope you can start feeling a bit better about things, at least I think it is a way of beginning to understand what is going on with us.
sorry it takes me so long..,,I get so obsessed with the stuff I have to do and sometimes for several days I am scared to look online, and when I do I just catch up on emails. Yes, I agree, labels and boxes can make some people feel better. I haven't looked at the DSM yet -- I know the personality disorder bit because I deliver a pd training locally but haven't really bothered with the rest of it.
(So do I have autism or emotionally unstable PD....or both?)
I have a huge amount of anxiety so have recently started researching autism and anxiety. so \I will ask you, Blank, do you get a lot of anxiety? It does seem to be common with autism but they don't know how the two are related.
I can relate to perfectionism and OCD. And have always thought I had at least a couple of the other P's
I'll ask the psychologist who did the assessment what she thinks.
That boxes thing isn't really my line of thinking. But I see how it can be a relief. Like: I'm this and this - finally an answer. And the terms only stretch so far. I think the entire DSM-5 thing is vague.
I'm sorry I haven't had time to keep up with this conversation for two weeks....
Anyway...I have been wondering whether the PDA version of autism is in some way related to perfectionism and OCD. Maybe people who have those qualities have some autistic features, but on a very low level where it is not recognised.
All these words (perfectionism, PDA, personality disorder, psychosis...lots of P's coming into my head for some reason) ….. these are all descriptive terms that people like doctors, researchers, psychologists, etc. come up with, to try to describe what they are seeing in people. They aren't boxes to put people into, saying "You re that, so you can't be this".
Oh, no worries! I am not someone who worries about myself at all! Actually I don't care much what I do or do not have. I do like to see what I could have, and then want to hear if I really do or don't.
I worry about every day things. And try not to. :-)
Ever considered being a perfectionist instead of having PDA?