Sven Bölte is a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Karolinska Institute and has researched and worked with neuropsychiatric diagnoses for 30 years. He believes that the National Board of Health and Welfare's statistics on the increasing number of autism diagnoses have several explanations.
A significant reason is that there is a much greater awareness and knowledge of autism in society than before. This means that more people are being investigated and more diagnoses are being made. However, there is nothing to suggest that autistic symptoms have increased.
Has the view on autism changed?
To a high degree. 20-30 years ago, it was considered a disease that could perhaps be cured, and an autism diagnosis was a tough message. Today, it is much less stigmatized, and the diagnosis has increasingly become an explanatory model for why one feels or is perceived as different. It is no longer questioned that one can have a functioning life with an autism diagnosis.
Diagnosis provides entitlement to support
Is it only positive that more people are receiving a diagnosis?
It's complex. Many want a diagnosis because it provides entitlement to support and adaptation in school and also in working life, and in that sense, it's good.
But it says something about the demands that society places on us today. In school, one is expected to take great responsibility for one's education early on, have social skills, and perform at a high pace. In the long run, it's not a solution to have more diagnoses in order to cope, but we need to look at societal development as a whole and the cognitive demands that are being made.
Both autism and ADHD diagnoses are increasing, and it's not a healthcare issue, but a societal issue. For those who cannot meet all these demands, a clinical diagnosis can be the only way to get adaptation and support. Autism has become a question of identity and diversity for many, but it is still being treated as a medical diagnosis.
"Catching girls better"
How is it that the increase is greatest among girls?
School and healthcare have become better at catching girls. Previously, it was believed that it was much more common among boys. Girls may have received other diagnoses such as anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
What do you think about the future, have we reached a ceiling?
There is nothing to suggest that now. We are investigating more people, partly because resources have been allocated to shorten the queues for investigations. And school and society continue to make increased demands, so I think it will continue to increase before we reach a plateau.
