pathological demand avoidance (PDA)

Demand avoidance is something we can all do when we are feeling a bit overwhelmed, a bit tired, a bit tired and emotional.  We don’t like the extra pressure that comes from some other person who wants us to do something when we just want to be left alone.  This is perfectly normal.  The common response is ‘yes, yes, yes — I’ll do it tomorrow’, or ‘Can’t you see I’m busy!’ Or some similar strategy for deflecting the unpleasant intrusion.

Pathological demand avoidance describes the situation where the level of avoidance is so high that it disrupts normal life.  It is associated with autism where sensory overload, or a break in habitual behaviours or a disturbance to a predictable routine may cause overwhelming anxiety. But it is not only autistic people who suffer from it. In PDA the anticipation of a demand may cause so much anxiety that it leads to panic.  And the negative response to a small demand may appear to be completely out of proportion to the difficulty of the request.  PDA can be managed by developing helpful strategies but it can never be entirely eliminated.