PDA, or Pathological Demand Avoidance, is an autistic profile being researched & studied primarily in the UK since the 1980s, while just recently gaining recognition in the US. Recently renamed Pervasive Desire for Autonomy, PDA can present via adolescents or adults avoiding everyday demands, using social strategies as tools of avoidance, and having strong needs for autonomy & control. Those with PDA share the following traits with ASD: sensory differences, lack of interoceptive awareness, difficulties with social understanding, obsessive traits (often on people, as opposed to things), strong interests, detail-oriented, difficulties with emotion regulation, and anxiety. A PDA profile includes a fundamental need for control, resisting and avoiding every day demands of life (such as ADLs), using social strategies as a part of that every day avoidance, experiencing deep changes in mood, not appreciating hierarchy or age differences, and appearing differently depending on the environment, the amount of anxiety they have, or the amount of control they sense they have.
