Pathological Demand Avoidance

Pathological Demand Avoidance

Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is a term originally developed by the British psychologist Elisabeth Newson in the 1980s and first used in a published research paper by Newson in 2003. It was used to describe a group of children who did not fit into the stereotypical presentation of autism recognised at that time but who shared certain characteristics with each other, the key one being a persistent and marked resistance to demands.

Although demand avoidance, including the use of social strategies to avoid demands, is widely acknowledged as a characteristic reported by and observed in some people, no research has found strong evidence for the group of traits proposed for PDA or tested the validity or usefulness of Newson’s theory in clinical practice (the work of healthcare professionals).

PDA is not clinically recognised (it does not appear in the international medical manual, the ICD, nor in the DSM), which means you cannot receive a standalone diagnosis of PDA. There is debate around how the characteristic of a persistent and marked resistance to demands relates to autism (and other conditions) and whether its grouping with other traits as ‘PDA’ is helpful.

There are stark disagreements within the autism community (which includes autistic people, their families and allies, autism researchers, health care professionals, education professionals and more) about the validity and usefulness of the concept of PDA. One point on which there is broad agreement is that more and better research is required.

Source: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/behaviour/demand-avoidance