PDD-NOS

[jenny233]

I am nineteen years old and I am trying to find out more about my diagnoses. I have tried google and trying to read it has just confused me. I just want to know more with out confusing and frustrating myself. Help please?
Jenny

[OMFG!You'reActuallySmart!]

In psychiatry, numerous diagnoses have a NOS, such as personality disorder NOS, anxiety disorder NOS, etc... . The reason is the NOS label is a label where the patient fits some of the criteria but not all OR is much milder. Of the ones they do meet, the symptoms may in fact be very severe but there aren't enough of them to make the full diagnosis. It means the patient has a psychiatric condition but doesn't fulfill any of the other defined ones, so they're given the NOS label.

For PDD-NOS, patients behave like autistic children but either have much milder symptoms or don't have the complete diagnostic criteria fulfilled. For this reason, it's also thought of as "atypical autism", to denote that the patient has a PDD.

The NOS labels are often debated upon, so one doctor may say a patient doesn't have the NOS label. The American Psychological Association (APA) who form the DSM system, are always debating over which syndromes would fall under NOS and the restrictions for the NOS.

[Lugez]

I was diagnosed with this too. Basically, it means you're a high-functioning autistic who doesn't completely fit any of the current "categories." Remember that Autism is a spectrum disorder, which means you can show little signs of it (which what PDD-NOS implies), or you can be extremely affected. In my case, I don't have an intense interest in one subject so they hesitate to label be with Asperger's. So the PDD-NOS label seems convenient.

But as stated, it can be debateable as to who falls under this.