"Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder"

Our Reaction to "CADD"

"Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder" is a term coined recently. It is asserted that, in this "disorder," some partners of autistic people experience symptoms of physical illness as a result of unhappiness and depression, which themselves are caused by "emotional deprivation." We believe that it is quite unnecessary to invent a new pathology for a situation of this kind.

We do accept that, in a relationship in which the emotional needs of one partner are not met, for whatever reason, including factors such as the "depriving" partner having:

excessive work demands;
problems with alcohol;
a desire for a social life which excludes the other partner;
depression;
serious illness;
an abusive personality;
many other potential problems.

OR
The emotional needs of the "deprived" parner are great, perhaps as a result of grief, illness or any number of factors;
OR
The emotional needs of each partner differ widely.

In any of the above scenarios, it is possible that one partner may suffer emotional deprivation.

It is undoubtedly true that, in a marriage in which one person is autistic and the other is not, there is likely to be a disparity of needs, including the emotional or practical needs of both partners.

However, given that emotional deprivation also occurs in non-autistic marriages, it seems inappropriate to us to invent a distinct syndrome to describe physical symptoms that may be a result of such deprivation, but which might also occur in a wide range of marital and partnership situations.

We are grateful to the many autistic and non-autistic writers who are helping to illuminate the cultural and communication differences between us.

You can find some other materials about "CADD" on the Links page.

Thank you for visiting. Please select one of the links on the left to proceed.