Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)

PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) is widely understood to be a profile on the autism spectrum, involving the avoidance of everyday demands and the use of ‘social’ strategies as part of this avoidance. Autism is dimensional, this means that it varies a lot from one person to another. A PDA profile describes one way in which autism can present. 

PDA individuals share autistic characteristics and in addition have many of the ‘key features’ of a PDA profile: 

  • resisting and avoiding the ordinary demands of life
  •  using social strategies as part of the avoidance appearing ‘socially able’ but this may mask underlying 
  • differences/difficulties in social interaction and communication 
  • experiencing intense emotions and mood swings
  • appearing comfortable in role play, pretence and fantasy
  •  intense focus, often on other people (real or fictional)
  •  a need for control, often driven by anxiety or an automatic ‘threat response’ 
  • conventional approaches in support, parenting or teaching are ineffective

(PDA Society, 2023)