I think I might have a condition that no longer exists

One of the things we’ll have to say goodbye to in 2013, if the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has its way, is Asperger’s Syndrome. In the forthcoming fifth edition of the APA’s reference work, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), Asperger’s has been ‘declassified’, that is, it’s no longer recognised as a discrete, stand-alone condition. This is a bit of a blow to me because I’ve been gradually working my way up to getting a professional diagnosis. Am I suffering from it or not? Now, it seems, I’ll never know.

For those unfamiliar with this disorder, it’s named after the Austrian paediatrician Hans Asperger who believed that certain high-functioning autistic children can be grouped together in a special category rather than simply labelled ‘autistic’. Among the characteristics exhibited by these children, according to Asperger, are poor social skills, lack of empathy and difficulty in picking up on more subtle forms of communication, such as body language and irony.