Autism October Mini Info Dump: Autism and ADHD are *almost* synonymous.
When the DSM 5 TR was first released in 2013, it allowed people finally be diagnosed for both Autism (for behaviours) and ADHD (behaviours and MEDICATION), for the first time (in countries that diagnose via the DSM like Australia).
Autism is primarily diagnosed based on 3 types of social interaction differences/difficulties and 2 non social behavioural oddities.
ADHD is primarily diagnosed on mental hyperactivity, which can lead to problems with attention, impulsivity and disassociation.
Autism is said to have no medication for it that consistently helps. That is wrong. Most Autistic people (over 80%) benefit from ‘stimulant medication’ which specifically means dopamine agitant and or dopamine reuptake inhibitor (they increase pre-frontal lobe dopamine availability and delivery).
ADHD is treated primarily with ‘stimulant medication’. Sometimes that is combined with beta blockers (to decrease the adrenaline and noradrenaline increase) (about 5-10%). Some ADHDers need non-dopamine based medication (tier 2 and 3).
More and more modern research is finding that the overlap between Autistic people and ADHD people is very large (80 – 90%).
My personal hypothesis is that all ADHDers are Autistic, almost all Autistic people are ADHDers. That isn’t currently supported by the science. Anecdotally, every ADHDer I’ve met is Autistic and even if they don’t convince the Autism assessors (since they often don’t diagnosed what used to be called Asperger’s Syndrome candidates as ASD even though they are supposed to), they benefit from understanding Autism and using relevant Autism understanding and strategies (remember, the plural of anecdote is NOT data, but it is a good place to start). I’ve met a few Autistic people that didn’t quite fit the ADHD profile, or benefit from any of the medication that benefits ADHDers.
For more about this, read ADHD Primer 3 – Autism and ADHD, aka AuDHD.