Too many disorders? - Shared Symptoms

Always be aware that symptoms do not belong exclusively to one 'disorder' or another. Symptoms are shared, often by many different conditions. A runny nose does not automatically indicate that you have a 'cold'. In the field of Tourette Syndrome and autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), there is a considerable tendency to cherry-pick or fence-off groups of symptoms in order to introduce another disorder - a disintegrative approach. This is very characteristic of many psychology-based and reductionist paradigms in investigating neurological/neuro-developmental behaviours.

Obsessions/obsessive-thinking are characteristic of autism, TS and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Compulsions are characteristic of TS, OCD and ASD (if tics and other behaviours were not compulsive they would not be carried out when there is a prior-awareness of them). But having these symptoms does not automatically point to a diagnosis of OCD. They are all disorders with shared symptoms but indeed may have hitherto poorly understood connections. The acknowledged complex interplay between TS, OCD/OCB, ASD, SPD, ADD etc. has been represented by many, in pictorial form, by interlocking Venn diagrams. Symptoms of sensory integration difficulties are also common in many disorders but do not always mean an individual has SPD as they are also often intrinsic to autism, TS and ADD/ADHD as are attention deficit symptoms. 'Experts' are often keen to give greater substance to 'separate' disorders for obvious reasons or because they can build a niche for themselves within a separate field or provide therapeutic regimes and curative treatments for commercial gain. Experts are prone to the same failings as us all, and collecting degrees, diplomas, placing letters before or after their name and advertising other honours does not always confer greater understanding or insight nor always save them from much-cherished dogma. Evidence and a willingness to remain open to new ideas must always be the prime consideration of credible scientific and medical endeavour.


People with neuro-developmental disorders often do not fit neatly into a 'diagnostic box' and so often end up being diagnosed with a plethora of different disorders. It may be more realistic to view such individuals has having a mosaic of characteristics that are an expression of a single underlying integrated developmental anomaly. The more integrative spectrum concept, which is frequently used in association with autism, provides a more workable and flexible approach than the poly-diagnostic disintegrative perspective. Different attributes or parameters that control or determine neuro-cognitive functioning may occur with different levels of functionality in different individuals. An analogy might be looking at the preferences section of a piece of computer software that controls the parameters that determine overall functioning.