Anxiously looking for love
33-year-old single woman seeks a companion but cannot maintain relationships. Does she have anxiety, a personality disorder, or a less obvious problem?
Other interventions use pictures, cartoons, and other visuals to help patients identify and correct misperceptions and determine how different responses might affect people’s thoughts and feelings.9,11 Role play allows the patient to practice social interaction but requires make-believe,11 so getting a PDD patient to participate can be challenging.
Medication can help manage comorbid anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and mood symptoms in PDD. Limited data support using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for this purpose.12
Related resources
- Ozonoff S, Dawson G, McPartland J. A parent’s guide to Asperger syndrome & high-functioning autism: how to meet the challenges and help your child thrive. New York: Guilford Press; 2002.
- MAAP Services. A global information and support network for more advanced persons with autism and Asperger syndrome. www.asperger.org.
- Escitalopram • Lexapro
The authors report no financial relationship with any company whose products are mentioned in this article or with manufacturers of competing products.
