Anyone have experience with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)

[Anonymous]

9 year old DD is working with a therapist -- lots of anger, outbursts at home and at school, anxiety around transitions, etc. Neuropsych is scheduled for early next month.

Therapist said a lot of what we are seeing sounds like several things but she focused on Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) and she would send us some research and information. I've never heard of this before. Has anyone else?

[Anonymous]

Google At Peace Parents

[Anonymous]

autism

[Anonymous]

OP how much do you know about ADHD, Anxiety, and ASD? If I were you, I would be very careful about going down a PDA rabbit hole before I had a pretty solid understanding of the research on these three.

PDA describes the behaviors of our teen who has ASD/ADHD diagnoses. It's been a long road.

[Anonymous]

It’s a way to describe a set of behaviors, not a diagnosis. I would be very, very cautious about letting that label drive your decisions on therapy and discipline strategies.

[Anonymous]

PDA isn’t an actual diagnosis. There are many diagnoses in which avoidant behavior is common. Stick to the neuropsych and go from there. Your therapist sounds cuckoo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PDA isn’t an actual diagnosis. There are many diagnoses in which avoidant behavior is common. Stick to the neuropsych and go from there. Your therapist sounds cuckoo.

It’s a recognized profile that accompanies an asd diagnosis in other countries. The US has just not adopted that language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP how much do you know about ADHD, Anxiety, and ASD? If I were you, I would be very careful about going down a PDA rabbit hole before I had a pretty solid understanding of the research on these three.

PDA describes the behaviors of our teen who has ASD/ADHD diagnoses. It's been a long road.

We've had more than one Psychiatrist tell us they see PDA being used as a catchall label for behaviors by a certain segment practitioners.

[Anonymous]

It usually means a high functioning asd/adhd kid with a lot of sensitivity to criticism and doing work. It's like they can do things but they are avoidant about doing them. Needs a lot of praise and familiarity compared to other kids. Has a lot of fear/anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PDA isn’t an actual diagnosis. There are many diagnoses in which avoidant behavior is common. Stick to the neuropsych and go from there. Your therapist sounds cuckoo.

It’s a recognized profile that accompanies an asd diagnosis in other countries. The US has just not adopted that language.

Then you should move to another country to get that diagnosis. In America it’s not a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It usually means a high functioning asd/adhd kid with a lot of sensitivity to criticism and doing work. It's like they can do things but they are avoidant about doing them. Needs a lot of praise and familiarity compared to other kids. Has a lot of fear/anxiety.

Disagree, could relate to many other disabilities or disorders. That’s why it’s not good as a standalone, it doesn’t tell you anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP how much do you know about ADHD, Anxiety, and ASD? If I were you, I would be very careful about going down a PDA rabbit hole before I had a pretty solid understanding of the research on these three.

PDA describes the behaviors of our teen who has ASD/ADHD diagnoses. It's been a long road.

We've had more than one Psychiatrist tell us they see PDA being used as a catchall label for behaviors by a certain segment practitioners.

Child therapist here who agrees with this. PDA is being used as a gentle avoidance of labels like ASD, ODD, etc. Furthermore it's not an actual diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Raises hand. Yes, we have heard of it, we live it in our house. For years, our house was in crisis as was DC. After DC was diagnosed at 8 with ASD, ADHD, GAD, DCD, and pathological demand avoidance, we slowly made some changes and with time, maturity, stimulant meds, and tolerance + generally-the-same expectations, DC and our family are in a much much better place.

[Anonymous]

PDA is just one component of a set of issues. It needs to be addressed, though. I generally give a warning 15-30 mins before transition is required. No meds have ever helped with this particular behavior.

[Anonymous]

My husband has it. It’s hell in a marriage.