Pathological demand avoidance

This could result in noticeable physical and mental differences such as meltdowns, panic attacks, being controlling, aggression, and anxiety.

[15] PDA is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

PDA research often lacks methodological rigor, with many studies using tools like the EDA-Q, which was developed based on criteria derived from Newson et al.’s (2003) original descriptions rather than independent validation.

[20] The questionnaire’s validity remains uncertain, as it may be reinforcing pre-existing assumptions about PDA rather than objectively measuring distinct traits.

There are also concerns regarding selection bias, as many studies using the EDA-Q recruit participants from advocacy groups that already accept PDA as a distinct profile, thereby limiting generalizability.

[citation needed] PDA was demonstrated to have traits are strongly associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotional dysregulation, and antagonism, rather than being exclusive to autism.

[21] Alternatively, some children may meet the criteria for both oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and PDA, as the two are not mutually exclusive diagnoses.

[25] Elizabeth Newson investigated PDA as a separate disorder from autism in the 1970s at the Child Development Research Clinic of Nottingham.

[26] When Newson was made professor of developmental psychology at the University of Nottingham in 1994, she dedicated her inaugural lecture to talking about pathological demand avoidance syndrome.

[28] In July 2003, Newson published in Archives of Disease in Childhood for PDA to be recognized as a separate syndrome within the pervasive developmental disorders.

[32] For example, autistic social psychologists Damian Milton and Devon Price have suggested the behavior should not be considered pathological.