Pathological Demand Avoidance and its whitewashed new “gentler” name “Persistant drive for autonomy” feels like one of the worst examples of how diagnoses can individualize a societal issue. It feels like it totally ignores the harsh realities of kids existing in a society not made to fit them.
Originally posted by u/Southern_Fruit7439 on Reddit.
Top comment by u/anthonyisashittyname
As the partner of someone with self diagnosed PDA I don’t think you’ve got a grasp on the pervasiveness of PDA. My partner can feel like the demands that her own body is making on her are things she needs to resist. Eating becomes too much of an internal demand and boom now she can’t eat for hours. We are taking about a nervous system rigidity that doesn’t just resist societal bullshit. It’s like an inverse tic/compulsion…
Agree with other folks who live close to it that it has been a verrrrry helpful concept