> The DSM-V fact sheet indicates that, indeed, rather than being voted out of existence, Aspergers Syndrome was reclassified to help reduce misdiagnoses from varying application of DSM-IV criteria, not because it doesn't exist.
It doesn't exist. All this reclassification talk is simply psychologists saving face. At their most candid, they say, "It's not an evidence-based term." (source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03asperger.html?pag...). Saying something isn't evidence-based is how a scientist says "it's not real."
Remember that, in science, the null hypothesis precept dictates that claims lacking evidence are assumed to be false. Indeed, the fact that people continue to insist that Asperger's is real in spite of a complete lack of evidence, is an accurate measure of the unscientific nature of psychology.
> Researchers found that these separate diagnoses were not consistently applied across different clinics and treatment centers. Anyone diagnosed with one of the four pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) from DSM-IV should still meet the criteria for ASD in DSM-5 or another, more accurate DSM-5 diagnosis.
The DSM-V fact sheet indicates that, indeed, rather than being voted out of existence, Aspergers Syndrome was reclassified to help reduce misdiagnoses from varying application of DSM-IV criteria, not because it doesn't exist.
1: http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Autism%20Spectrum%20Disorder%2...