Published on 12, July, 2020
I attended a zoom group this morning and came across PDA , which is a new one for me as nobody really talks about it even though it affects so many people. I am aware that you can have this form of Autism , but it is super hard to get diagnosed. I just wanted to see how it affects you , the traits etc on a deeper level. When it was being discussed I suddenly had a lightbulb moment and now i'm addiment my brother has it so wanted to dive into it further. Would be super grateful for any advice on this matter,
Kind regards Amy
PDA is a specific autistic profile - meaning that the autistic person has a persistent drive for autonomy and that the nervous system can perceive hierarchy, inequality or authority (loss of autonomy) as threats to survival. There are many other PDA experiences, here are some links to more information:
https://youtube.com/@kristyforbes?si=8VZw1mCxYy0Q-IRy
This YouTube channel is by Kristy Forbes who is an adult PDAer who specialises in supporting other PDAers and families. Really important information about the PDA nervous system on this channel.
More videos about PDA by PDAers:
https://www.youtube.com/live/ryWUrEoZgDY?si=mAng1ROmdrYdLuPm
https://www.youtube.com/live/cqf9hlpSz5E?si=-1rcYoZEbuNbiayf
You may also want to visit the Autism Understood website and search for PDA specifically.
I hope this helps.
My diagnosis report states the profile type as PDA.
It's taken a while to figure out what that really means, there's so many things that I do which are PDA driven but I wasn't aware. I used to just think it manifests as procrastination , but it's so much more than that.
Demand can come in many forms and my reaction to it can be almost allergic, like I'm startled by some things and fight or flight (or freeze) can kick in.
These range from invites to social events, people popping up with a message saying "got a min to talk?" , things I need to do at work that I don't feel bought into (I'm not great with just being told, I have to "believe" to do things)
It's all good fun!
I completely understand your comment below, after all it's a threat response.
Autisician said: Demand can come in many forms and my reaction to it can be almost allergic, like I'm startled by some things and fight or flight (or freeze) can kick in.
Autisician said:It's taken a while to figure out what that really means, there's so many things that I do which are PDA driven but I wasn't aware. I used to just think it manifests as procrastination , but it's so much more than that.
I understand why your response to a demand may seem like executive functioning differences such as procrastination or inertia as you say, however it is obviously much primitive than that.
Autisician said:These range from invites to social events, people popping up with a message saying "got a min to talk?" , things I need to do at work that I don't feel bought into (I'm not great with just being told, I have to "believe" to do things)
You mention you need to believe in order to do things, this makes lots of sense as it is very common for many of us autistics (including myself) and particularly PDAer's to need to be intrinsically motivated in order to do anything. I for example always need to know that there is a logical reason for doing something, and I think it's partly due to being monotropic as my attention is so focussed that I don't have extra attention tunnels to spread elsewhere.
On the surface level, it's almost like your threat response allows for more processing time for these tasks, however i am obviously aware that it's the demand itself that triggers the loss of autonomy and not the actual nature of the task.
As an adult I would hope you have more autonomy over your life and can set boundaries for demands that are triggering your nervous system.
Another point, it’s like by reframing the demand about washing the dishes you now have a logical reason for doing the task in the first place and therefore this signals safety for your nervous system.
Thanks for providing such great insight into your PDA experience!