Brief Report: Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders of Autistic Disorder

There are several medical conditions that have been recognized with rela-tively high frequency in individuals with Autistic Disorder (AD). About 30 % of people with AD also have seizure disorders; 2-5 % have fragile X syndrome; and 1-3 % have tuberous clerosis. In addition to these coexisting medical conditions, many autistic individuals also develop other behavioral and/or psychiatric symptoms in addition to the core autistic symptomatolo-gies (i.e., impairment in social interaction, impairment in communication, and restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities), that may be considered clinical manifestations of comorbid psychiatric disorders. The additional behavioral and/or psychiatric symp-toms have been described by many investigators. Rutter, Greenfield, and Lockyer (1967) reported that among the 63 children with Infantile Psycho-sis, 48 % were hyperkinetic at the time of first hospitalization, 43 % had morbid preoccupation, 37 % had obsessive phenomena, 70 % had stereo-typed mannerism, 25 % had self-injury, and 60 % had anxiety or fear. Simon