Asperger syndrome, internet and fantasy versus reality – a forensic case study
| Published date | 07 November 2016 |
| Pages | 349-354 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-07-2015-0034 |
| Date | 07 November 2016 |
| Author | Lorraine Higham,Imran Piracha,Juli Crocombe |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Learning & intellectual disabilities |
Asperger syndrome, internet and fantasy
versus reality –a forensic case study
Lorraine Higham, Imran Piracha and Juli Crocombe
Lorraine Higham is a Principal
Clinical Psychologist, Imran
Piracha is a Higher Specialty
Trainee in Forensic Psychiatry
and Juli Crocombe is Clinical
Director, all at the ASD
Pathway, St Andrews
Healthcare, Birmingham, UK.
Abstract
Purpose –People with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are known to have difficulties in their social
communication and interaction. The internet is a twenty-first century phenomenon that provides such
individuals with a world in which they can exist without the awkwardness of face-to-face contact. The
purpose of this paper is to start to illustrate the high risks that can occur when the internet is used as the main
forum for interaction in individuals who are socially impaired.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper provides a brief summary of literature in relation to ASD and
risk of offending behaviour followed by a case study of a young man with a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome
who was convicted of conspiracy to murder.
Findings –This paper concludes that possible deficits in central coherence, theory of mind and social skills,
combined with extensive periods of time spent alone on the internet forums and a late diagnosis of ASD, may
place individuals at risk of committing a serious offence.
Originality/value –This paper highlights the difficulties that people with Autism may have in separating
fantasy from reality and the high level of risk that can occur as a result.
Keywords Internet, Reality, Autism, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, Fantasy
Paper type Case study
The National Autistic Society (NAS) (2015) defines autism as “a lifelong developmental disability
that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how
they make sense of the world around them”. According to the NAS (2015), “people with autism
have said that the world, to them, is a mass of people, places and events which they struggle to
make sense of, and which can cause them considerable anxiety”.
Despite being recognised as clinical entities since the 1940s, autism and Asperger’s syndrome
have only entered the standardized psychiatric classifications more recently. Autism was first
included as a separate category in DSM-3 in 1980 when it was called “infantile autism”. This was
later changed to “autistic disorder”in 1987. Asperger’s disorder (syndrome) was added to
DSM-4 in 1994 and to ICD-10 in 1992. The recent trend of using Autistic Spectrum Disorder
(ASD) as an umbrella term to describe various disorders along a spectrum of disabilities has also
has been adopted by DSM-5 where diagnoses of “autistic disorder”,“Asperger’s disorder”,
“childhood disintegrative disorder”and “PDD-NOS”have been incorporated into “autism
spectrum disorder”. The DSM-5 has reduced the traditionally described triad of impairments
(Hare et al., 1999; Browning and Caulfield, 2011) to two main areas:
1. social communication and interaction; and
2. restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or activities.
The DSM-5 has included sensory behaviours in the criteria for the first time, under the “restricted,
repetitivepatterns or behaviours”descriptions. It has also incorporated the “dimensional elements”
Received 23 July 2015
Revised 31 January 2016
8 October 2016
Accepted 13 October 2016
DOI 10.1108/AMHID-07-2015-0034 VOL. 10 NO. 6 2016, pp.349-354, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2044-1282
j
ADVANCESIN MENTAL HEALTH AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
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