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PDA

TheCatWoman

I get why this is an issue, having been on the recieving end of it at times, it's extremely annoying and often feels manipulative. But, when does needing time to think about something become PDA? Is this becoming another stick to beat ASC people with? There are quite a few things that I want time to think about, to gestate an idea, I don't want to be bounced into something, because of anothers impatience, or because they're at the other end of PDA and are of the "no sooner done than thought about" type.

The more I read about PDA the more it seems that NT's are using this as a way of bullying people into doing things they don't want to, haven't had time to think about and are generally unsure of, all in the name of needing a descision. Often it seems that naming someone as having PDA, means that the impatient NT gets to have thier way, by negating the wishes of ASC people, as far as I can see they only people who benefit from this are NT bullies. Another tactic I've noticed is asking the same question over and over again, in the hope that you will give the "right answer" which is to agree with them.

So is this really that big a problem, or is it being overblown and turned into a stick to beat people with?

Parents

  • This is a very interesting - but also a very tricky - topic.

    Besides PDA not being a clinically-recognised condition (in either the DSM or ICD manuals), PDA is also a very contentious subject in terms of its potential links with autism.

    The NAS has recently clarified its position, given that others had previously referred to the society's publications as seemingly being supportive of a link between PDA and ASD. In respect of this, they now instead say:

    "The National Autistic Society has historically engaged with the concept of PDA through website content, training, conference events and other activities. This has created a belief that the National Autistic Society accepts the concept of PDA, and its relationship to autism, to an extent that goes beyond the evidence, which has been referenced in the debate about PDA. We have reviewed our content and approach to be in line with the evidence." 

    They also say:

    "...many aspects of demand avoidance – including how it is best defined and identified; how common it is; why it happens; and support strategies for someone experiencing it – are under-researched and often contested."

    Some of the most recent research has found PDA (if it exists at all) to be predicted by ADHD, with ASD not being predictive of it:

    • "the correlation between ASD and PDA was small, and did not predict PDA."
    • "This research indicates that, for community adult populations, self-reported individual differences in ADHD, emotional instability, and antagonism appear to better predict PDA than ASD."

    More info: 

    PsychCentral - What's The Relationship Between Pathological Demand Avoidance and ADHD?

    NAS - Demand avoidance - The history of and debate about the PDA label

  • in reply to Bunny

    Thanks Bunny for that information. I said in my post that PDA appears to be linked to autism because that's what I had read on the internet, but I wasn't sure myself if there was a link so it's good to see data that refutes this.

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