At first glance, autism and OCD appear to have little in common. Yet clinicians and researchers have found an overlap between the two. Studies indicate that up toย 84 percent of autistic peopleย have some form of anxiety; as much asย 17 percentย may specifically have OCD.
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These shared traits make autism and OCD difficult to distinguish. Even to a trained clinicianโs eye, OCDโs compulsions can resemble the โinsistence on samenessโ or repetitive behaviors many autistic people show, including tapping, ordering objects and always traveling by the same route. Untangling the two requires careful work.
One crucial distinction, the 2015 analysis found, is that obsessions spark compulsions but not autism traits. Another is that people with OCD cannot swap the specific rituals they need, Vasa says: โThey have a need to do things a certain way, otherwise they feel very anxious and uncomfortable.โ By contrast, autistic people often have a repertoire of repetitive behaviors.
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Clinicians, then, have to probe why a person engages in a particular action. That task is doubly difficult if the person cannot articulate her experience. Autistic peopleย may lack self-insightย or have verbal, communicative or intellectual challenges, whichย leads to misdiagnosesย and missed diagnoses.
Read full, original post:ย Untangling the Ties between Autism and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
