SCHIZOPHRENIA AND AUTISM/ASPERGER’S SYNDROME: OVERLAP AND DIFFERENCE

摘要

Schizophrenia and Autism/Asperger’s syndrome are commonly confused in adult psychiatry. This has very significant implications for the patient. In my clinical practice it is not uncommon for me to see middle aged patients with a lifetime diagnosis of Schizophrenia and treatment with neuroleptics who should have been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Unfortunately they may have many of the side effects of neuroleptics at this point. It is not rare in my experience for intelligent patients to come forward with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia and to ask if they may have Asperger’s Syndrome. The first aim of this paper is to reduce the frequency of this mis- diagnosis in the future and the second aim is to examine the overlap and differentiation of Autism and Schizophrenia. Of course it is possible for both conditions to occur in the same person.