i recently found some information about multiple complex developmental disorder, aka multiplex developmental disorder aka McDD. its a subgroup of PDD-NOS, not listed in the DSM-IV-tr. i found limited information about it, and im very curious.
so, does anyone here know anything about this?
know where i can get more info?
how does it differ from AS?
are there possibly some people here that have been diagnosed with McDD?
i will surely be researching this much further...
Multiple-complex Developmental Disorder (McDD) represents a distinct group within the autism spectrum based on symptomatology.
McDD is a developmental disorder with symptoms that are to be divided in three groups.
1. Regulation of affective state (anxiety, panic and aggression).
Intense generalized anxiety, diffuse tension, or irritability.
Unusual fears and phobias that are peculiar in content or in intensity.
Recurrent panic episodes, terror, or flooding with anxiety.
Episodes lasting from minutes to days of behavioral disorganization or regression with the emergence of markedly immature, primitive, and/or self-injurious behaviors.
Significant and wide emotional variability with or without environmental precipitants.
High frequency of idiosyncratic anxiety reactions such as sustained periods of uncontrollable giggling, giddiness, laughter, or "silly" affect that is inappropriate in the context of the situation.
2. Consistent impairments in social behavior and sensitivity.
Social disinterest, detachment, avoidance, or withdrawal in the face of evident competence (at times) of social engagement, particularly with adults.
More often attachments may appear friendly and cooperative but very superficial, based primarily on receiving material needs.
Inability to initiate or maintain peer relationships.
Disturbed attachments displaying high degrees of ambivalence to adults, particularly to parents/caregivers, as manifested by clinging, overly controlling, needy behavior, and/shifting or aggressive, oppositional behavior toward parents, teachers, or therapists are common.
Profound limitations in the capacity of empathy or to read or understand others’ affects accurately.
3. Impaired cognitive processing (thinking disorder)
Thought problems that are well out of proportion with mental age, including irrationality, sudden intrusions on normal thought process, magical thinking, neologisms or nonsense words repeated over and over, desultory thinking, blatantly illogical bizarre ideas.
Confusion between reality and fantasy life.
Perplexity and easy confusability (trouble with understanding ongoing social processes and keeping one's thoughts "straight").
Delusions, including fantasies of personal omnipotence, paranoid preoccupations, overengagement with fantasy figures, grandiose fantasies of special powers, and referential ideation.
i definetly have most of these symptoms outright. i have all of them at least a little. requirement for diagnosis (the way i understand it)is at least two from each category. i am seriously considering making an alternative self-dx. now i need to go reevaluate my AS self-dx.
question-- (i think i know the answer to this but wanted to see what the consensus is)
--can someone by diagnosed as both AS and PDD-NOS at the same time or is it one or the other?
Subatai_Baadur who used to be a member here, and one of my really good friends, thought he had this (i don't know if he still thinks this). I think he's still a member of wrong planet though if you want to contact him about it.
yay! its lucie! where you been? have missed you lately
Maybe if you recognise you have an ASD without trying to box yourself into a defined category - too much.
i recognized that i had ASD a while ago. if McDD fits me better than AS does, isnt that a good thing? how am i "tring to box myself in"?
Do you meet the criteria for aspergers - as defined in the DSM IV?
Seems from reading from the above site PDD NOS is only diagnosed when someone is recognised as having autistic traits - without actually meeting the criteria for AS or autism.
i do meet the requirements for AS, but im very close to the cutoff, and i am self-DX'd, so i could have made mistakes. i do think it might be dificult to obtain an official AS DX, considering i am close to the cutoff.
it is very likely that a doctor would dx me with PDD-NOS instead of AS.
it seems to me, also, that PDD-NOS is sort of an "other" category. it looks like McDD came along as a better DX for SOME of the people put in the "other"(PDD-NOS) category.
so heres another question...
if McDD is actually specified(albeit not in the DSM), then how can it be a sub category of of PDD-NOS? shouldnt it be a whole new category? or maybe a subcategory of AS?
I really don't see the point in separating HFA/Asperger's from PDD-NOS. Apart from speech delay or early regression in PDD-NOS, what's the alleged "cut off" between the two??
as i understand it there arent any specific symptoms that seperate PDD-NOS from autism. it has nothing to do with academic acheivement, IQ, etc. all it means is "on the spectrum but not quite aspergers or autism".
its vague and pretty stupid but this is all pretty new stuff and there are alot of bugs to fix in the system. in the mean time some of us might have to settle for a PDD-NOS DX.
pergatory developmental disorder-nonetheless onthe spectrum
that being said id like this thread to be more about McDD(an actual disorder), and less about PDD-NOS(a group of unidentified disorders)
Bits of that are sort of like me, a bit. I don't think I have it, but I'm not a million miles removed. Actually, it describes reasonably well how I was when I was much, much younger.
What do they mean by 'evident competence' in this bit?
Social disinterest, detachment, avoidance, or withdrawal in the face of evident competence (at times) of social engagement, particularly with adults.
I read it as meaning when you're talking to someone with better social skills than you, you clam up. But that doesn't actually make a lot of sense.
Just out of curiousity matthe, on which points do you think you don't fit the criteria for Asperger's?
here are most of the things i think would keep me from getting a DX.
poor motor skills- with the exception of poor handwriting, i have always had pretty good motor skills. i play guitar, drums, keys, etc. very well. im very good with my hands. dexterity is definetly one of my strong points.
daily routine- i enjoy diversity and spontaniousness in my daily life. i cant stand eating the same thing all the time for example. i love tring new things, and meeting new people. i like the work i do, a new location almost everyday. my daily routine is always different. i like it like that.
heightened sensitivity to light and loud noise- i work onstage at rock concerts and i love it. you couldnt find a noisier, or brighter place to be. i am completly comfortable sitting next a wall of subwoofers(140db), with all the lights and strobes going nuts, with 10k people looking in my direction. its actually very soothing to me. sometimes, if i can, i even take a nap onstage during a show.
stimming- im a chronic smoker, but i dont think that counts. i dont stimm and i dont recolect ever stimming.
monotonous speech or difficulty judging volume- my speaking patterns are normal and dynamic.
The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.- i do not think a doctor would consider my troubles to be "clinically significant impairment"
lack of desire to interact with peers- i desire interaction with my peers. probabaly more than they do
most everything else about me is pretty typical of AS
What do they mean by 'evident competence' in this bit?
Social disinterest, detachment, avoidance, or withdrawal in the face of evident competence (at times) of social engagement, particularly with adults.
withdrawl in the face of evident compitence-
i think they just mean...withdrawing even though youre actually doing pretty good
Some of it almost looks like Bipolar II, a little, because of the inconsistency of mood/activity in the regulation of affective state.
yeah i agree, it looks like borderline disorder a little too.
Some of it almost looks like Bipolar II, a little, because of the inconsistency of mood/activity in the regulation of affective state.
yeah i agree, it looks like borderline disorder a little too.
I also agree, it fits me exactly and I have Borderline PD.
you too, etheral? it was a strange feeling to read the list of symptoms and have everything match.
AS is very close, but McDD is dead on for me.
i have some bipolar and borderline symptoms, but there are several reasons that these do not fit for me.
Regarding loud noises and lights - if I am trying to move in a particular way (such as writing something or trying to go somewhere), or if I'm trying to say something, or think clearly and focused on something, then loud noises and bright lights are terrible, and I feel sick. If I'm not doing any of these, however (such as being at a dance), then I quite like it and really get into it, and my perceptual experiences are quite pleasant.
Might be completely different from what you describe (such as you might do well in thinking clearly and navigating in those conditions), but I find it interesting to mention, considering that I'm typically very sensitive to bright lights and loud noises.
I also love spontaneity - for certain things, such as what I am going to do on a particular day. However, for specific tasks (such as brushing my teeth, getting dressed), I need to follow my specific routines, or I get confused and frustrated.
i can, at times be sensitive to light and sound. the light thing i attribute to some sort of vision problem(cataracs in the family).
the sound of a leaf blower, in cirtain cases will send me into an anxiety attack.
while those(what i posted in #19) are the reasons i feel AS does not work for me, there are a million other reasons that i am aspie. not to mention that im 31 and have probabaly learned to be/appear less aspie through the years.
I know someone really lovely and very wise who has Mdd Matthe.
He posts on wrong planet.
I will be in touch later - at work at the moment.
sweet! ive said it before and ill say it again, lucie1, youre awesome!
backing up a bit...
I apologize, as I seemed to use the idea that McDD is much the same as PDD-NOS. I think I meant this: since McDD is a PDD, and on the autistic spectrum, I still don't buy the idea that it needs to be separate from AS/HFA. That's just my uninformed, probably naive opinion which you can discount.
something id like to point out
- pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified -
when/if McDD is added to the DSM, it will, by definition, no longer be considered a PDD-NOS. McDD would then be a PDD that is "otherwise specified".
it wont be seperate from AS/HFA any more than AS is seperate from HFA...or even PDD-NOS or LFA for that matter, as they are all ASD's and they are all PDD's.
im not tring to "discount" your opinion at all batman. i deffinetly agree that they should not be seperate. similar but slightly different. by no means seperate.