Is it true

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Is it true they are going to take away the name Asperger's and name it Autistic Spectrum Disorder instead?

Aspergers was eliminated as a diagnosis in the DSM 5 this past May.

It is true that the new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders removed the stand-alone diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. However, it is published by the American Psychiatric Association and is not used everywhere outside the US. I see you are in Ireland, which uses the World Health Association's manual and still includes Asperger's as a possible diagnosis.

The new version of the DSM, which omits the specific term "Asperger Syndrome" is controversial for that and many other reasons and highly disputed at the moment by many Mental Health Professionals. Some have flatly refused to use it. The US Federal Government has indicated plans to abandon the DSM soon in favor of some other diagnostic standard.

Also, brain researchers are reporting MRI scan evidence indicating that Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism have a different neurological signature than Classic Autism (also known as Kanner's Autism). Therefore, it seems virtually certain that the whole issue will be revisited and that Asperger Syndrome will likely be reinstated in subsequent editions of the DSM.

As arielhawksquill points out, Asperger Syndrome was only removed from the DSM V, which is not recognized globally as the exclusive word on diagnostic criteria, so it's not like the term or the diagnosis have disappeared from the face of the Earth.

All a fairly moot point, since Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism are, and always have been, essentially the same thing. There never was any difference, except for a slight delay in speech in early childhood in HFA and not in AS.

I thought those studies compared Asperger's to all types of Autistic Disorder/Childhood Autism -- including HFA...am I wrong about this or is it just another one of those semantic problems (i.e. HFA means different things depending on who you talk to)?

In the US, is has been eliminated as a diagnosis. Mental health professionals in the U.S. use the DSM. The latest version of the DSM does not have Asperger's in it.

I don't know about other countries. I don't think every country uses the DSM.

Thank's for all the replies.

My Psychiatrist is trying to take the name away, she must be going by the new DSM even though I'm in Ireland.