While I consider this to be little more than propaganda in places and making assumptions detached away from the evidence base. Also that some people do not have the expertise to be making such assumptions.

There is a comment that I find interesting:
https://t.co/FW4y3oG2Vb
"is an overriding compulsion to control situations and avoid demands made by other people, due to exceptionally high levels of anxiety."
@AhabInSpace
What the above quote is essentially saying, in the full context of the previous sentence is that PDA fundamentally is an OCD & Related Disorders.
The high anxiety would be the obsession and the demand avoidance would be the compulsion, which the essay admits the demand avoidance is.

@AhabInSpace
There is evidence to support like Liz O'Nions research update:
https://t.co/T9BG28iGrA
I make these points in relation to Help4Psychology PDA definitions:
https://t.co/IMCDBbqJoD
Comparing this compulsion to Newson's descriptions, it would be linked to the "Need for Control" which she describes as their being an coding problem in addition to coding problems of deficits in pride/ shame/ social identity.
https://t.co/RlYD7PayIA
"Eighty two per cent show little sense of status or identity in others, and 86% show no sense of pride, shame, responsibility, or identity in themselves, in addition to the lack of this sense which is implied by their demand avoidance." p596
I will restate this again, Newson et al (2003) does not link demand avoidance to anxiety, the article does not mention anxiety. Does sometimes mention panic and fear. Newson describes PDA behaviours as being much/ most obsessive in nature
"Obsessive behaviour: Much or most of the behaviour described is carried out in an obsessive way, especially demand avoidance" P597
What this seems to say is that Newson was correct to describe PDA as not being an autism spectrum disorder. For it not to be connected.

That she was incorrect in PDA having coding issues from a "need for control".
That if one critically engages with Newson's work, it would most likely be viewed as an OCD and Related Disorder today.

@AhabInSpace
"Surface Sociability" is a common trait amongst mental disorders, most do not include it in its dx criteria. It does seem an error in judgement to view PDA as autism.

PDA can end up anywhere as Newson set precedent of creating a diagnostic grouping for it.
@threadreaderapp unroll please.

More from For later read

The common understanding of propaganda is that it is intended to brainwash the masses. Supposedly, people get exposed to the same message repeatedly and over time come to believe in whatever nonsense authoritarians want them to believe /1

And yet authoritarians often broadcast silly, unpersuasive propaganda.

Political scientist Haifeng Huang writes that the purpose of propaganda is not to brainwash people, but to instill fear in them /2


When people are bombarded with propaganda everywhere they look, they are reminded of the strength of the regime.

The vast amount of resources authoritarians spend to display their message in every corner of the public square is a costly demonstration of their power /3

In fact, the overt silliness of authoritarian propaganda is part of the point. Propaganda is designed to be silly so that people can instantly recognize it when they see it


Propaganda is intended to instill fear in people, not brainwash them.

The message is: You might not believe in pro-regime values or attitudes. But we will make sure you are too frightened to do anything about it.

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