06/30/2026
ASPERGERS PHENOTYPE IS NOT A DISORDER
Psychologists and doctors call it the "Autism Spectrum" or "Autism Spectrum Disorder.” In the DSM, "autism" and "Aspergers,” are lumped together. This is a bad idea, from a pathologist's perspective. They are clinically as different as an adenoma, a benign tumor, from an adenocarcinoma, a malignant tumor.
Furthermore, by definition, a spectrum, in two dimensions, has two ends and a middle. Calling this phenotypic range the autism spectrum, is like calling the visible light spectrum, the violet spectrum.
Just a pet peeve of mine.
Labeling functional phenotypes, or types of people who can get by in society, as disorders or diseases, almost always leads to pharmaceuticals. There is money to be made. This is generally a bad idea for high functioning people with an Aspergers phenotype. Such an approach would have crippled Temple Grandin, for example, to a life of lithium in a group how. She escaped, thanks to one of my heroes, Temple Grandin's mother. The movie, entitled, Temple Grandin, is well worth watching, by the way.
To know thyself really is the road to wisdom and happyness.
Cheers,
-kev
aka Doctor Kevin Thomas Morgan, BVSc, PhD, DipACVP, FRCPath
Everyone is on the “The Spectrum,” where do you lie? https://inspir...
