Brief report: Comorbid psychiatric disorders of autistic disorder

Abstract

The behavioral and/or psychiatric symptoms in autistic people as described above have been viewed by many professionals dealing with autistic populations as “associated features of autism” that may result from these individuals' inability to cope with the environmental demands and physical discomfort. Traditionally, in treating individuals with autism, special education intervention including behavioral modifications has been the main emphasis. Such an approach has made some progress in milder and uncomplicated cases of autism. However, if many of these behavioral and/or psychiatric symptoms in those with more severe associated features can be viewed as symptoms of various comorbid psychiatric disorders, there are data suggesting that with an appropriate evaluation, predrug workups, a specific diagnosis, and multiple measures of outcome, pharmacotherapy can be a safe and efficacious adjunct treatment for some symptoms in autistic persons. Nevertheless, the data presented here were obtained mainly from autistic children. A great deal of work remains to be done Future research should put more emphasis on developing agreeable, reliable, and valid diagnostic instruments for identifying comorbid psychiatric disorders in autistic people. Future research should also emphasize employing a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design, as well as involving multicenters and using uniformed diagnostic criteria to study autistic adolescents and adults.