A Concise History of Asperger Syndrome: The Short Reign of a Troublesome Diagnosis

Frontiers in Psychology
J B Barahona-Corrêa, Carlos N Filipe

Abstract

First described in 1944 by Hans Asperger (1944), it was not before 1994 that Asperger Syndrome (AS) was included in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, only to disappear in the Manual's fifth edition in 2013. During its brief existence as a diagnostic entity, AS aroused immense interest and controversy. Similar to patients with autism, AS patients show deficits in social interaction, inappropriate communication skills, and interest restriction, but also display a rich variety of subtle clinical characteristics that for many distinguish AS from autism. However, difficulties operationalising diagnostic criteria and differentiating AS from autism ultimately led to its merging into the unifying category of Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Here we briefly review the short history of this fascinating condition.

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Citations

Jul 6, 2019·Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology·William D Graf
Jul 26, 2018·Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders·Concetta de GiambattistaLucia Margari
Nov 13, 2019·Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders·Olivia Smith, Sandra C Jones
Mar 5, 2021·Curēus·Mayank Gupta, Ridhima Chaudhary
May 18, 2021·Frontiers in Psychiatry·Paul WhiteleyPaul Shattock

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