Diagnosis
Diagnosis of classic autism was based on behavioral symptoms, not cause or mechanism. Classification
Classic autism was listed as autistic disorder in the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Associations diagnostic manual, as one of the five pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs). However, the PDDs were collapsed into the single diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2013, and the WHOs diagnostic manual ICD-11 (which had listed it as childhood autism in its previous edition) followed suit a few years later. Classic autism was said to be characterized by widespread abnormalities of social interactions and communication, severely restricted interests, and highly repetitive behavior.Of the PDDs, Asperger syndrome was closest to classic autism in signs and likely causes; Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder share several signs with it, but were understood to potentially have unrelated causes; PDD not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS; also called atypical autism) was diagnosed when the criteria are not met for one of the other four PDDs. People would usually attract a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome rather than classic autism if they showed no substantial delay in language development, but early language ability was found to be a poor predictor of outcomes in adulthood. Prognosis and management
There is no known cure for autism, and very little research addressed long-term prognosis for classic autism. Many autistic children lack social support, future employment opportunities or self-determination.The main goals when treating autistic children are to lessen associated deficits and family distress, and to increase quality of life and functional independence.
"Cultural factors have "a decisive influence in shaping delusions". For example, delusions of guilt and punishment are frequent in a Western, Christian country like Austria, but not in Pakistan, where it is more likely persecution. Similarly, in a series of case studies, delusions of guilt and punishment were found in Austrian patients with Parkinsons being treated with l-dopa, a dopamine agonist. Pathophysiology
The two-factor model of delusions posits that dysfunction in both belief formation systems and belief evaluation systems are necessary for delusions. Dysfunction in evaluations systems localized to the right lateral prefrontal cortex, regardless of delusion content, is supported by neuroimaging studies and is congruent with its role in conflict monitoring in healthy persons. Abnormal activation and reduced volume is seen in people with delusions, as well as in disorders associated with delusions such as frontotemporal dementia, psychosis and Lewy body dementia. Furthermore, lesions to this region are associated with "jumping to conclusions", damage to this region is associated with post-stroke delusions, and hypometabolism this region associated with caudate strokes presenting with delusions.The aberrant salience model suggests that delusions are a result of people assigning excessive importance to irrelevant stimuli. In support of this hypothesis, regions normally associated with the salience network demonstrate reduced grey matter in people with delusions, and the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is widely implicated in salience processing, is also widely implicated in psychotic disorders.Specific regions have been associated with specific types of delusions.