Restricted, Repetitive Patterns of Behaviour, Interests, or Activities and Autism

Other Conditions

Obsessive Compulsive Disorders

It should be noted that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is not the same as the restricted and repetitive behaviours seen in many autistic people and that care should be taken to avoid confusion.

Baron-Cohen (1989) suggests that the terms obsession and compulsion should be used with considerable caution to describe autistic behaviours and that the more descriptive term ‘repetitive activities’ should be used.

That said,

• some people with autism suffer from both problems (Bejerot, 2000; Gross-Isseroff, 2001; Leyfer, 2006).
• some researchers believe there are similarities in underlying pathologies and outcomes (Delorme, 2007;Kanno, 2004; Volkmar, 2005).

Updated

16 Jun 2022