Comorbidity and Diagnosing Developmental Disorders

Abstract

Reducing complex human experiences and behavior into a cohesive gestalt and arriving at the appropriate diagnosis can be a daunting task at times. Several issues complicate this process and these include the fact that not only are many diagnoses not mutually exclusive, but having one may increase the risk of having particular other diagnoses. Moreover, diagnostic criteria and nomenclature have recently changed. For example, some diagnoses such as ADHD no longer have exclusionary criteria for people with Autism Spectrum disorder and some diagnoses such as Asperger’s Disorder are no longer made. Many of the diagnoses listed in the DSM-5 and other sources tend to have diagnostic criteria based on constellations of behaviors or symptoms that may overlap with many different diagnoses;