Kentrou, Vasiliki, Livingston, Lucy A, Grove, Rachel et al. · EClinicalMedicine · 2024 · DOI
This study found that many autistic adults, especially women, were given different psychiatric diagnoses (like depression, anxiety, or personality disorders) before being correctly diagnosed with autism. About 1 in 4 autistic adults and 1 in 3 autistic women reported receiving at least one psychiatric diagnosis that they felt was wrong. This delayed their access to proper autism support and treatment.
While this study focuses on autism, its findings about diagnostic confusion and the overlap between autism and psychiatric conditions are relevant to ME/CFS patients, who similarly experience delayed diagnosis and psychiatric misattribution of symptoms. Both conditions involve complex symptom presentations that mental health practitioners may not recognize, leading to inappropriate treatment and prolonged diagnostic pathways. Understanding how diagnostic confusion occurs in similar neurodevelopmental and neurological conditions can inform better practitioner training and earlier, more accurate recognition of ME/CFS.
This study does not establish whether perceived misdiagnoses were objectively incorrect; it relies on patients' perceptions rather than review of medical records or diagnostic criteria validation. The cross-sectional design cannot determine causality or establish whether autistic traits truly caused the misdiagnosis or whether other factors contributed. Results may not generalize to less-educated, non-Dutch populations or autistic individuals not engaged in research programs.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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