Brief report: violence in Asperger syndrome, a critique.

Asperger syndrome was first described by an Austrian physician, Hans Asperger (1944), as "autistic psychopathy." It is an uncommon disorder whose exact prevalence in the general population is not known. Gillberg and Gillberg (1989) estimated that among Swedish children with normal inteUigence, the rates are 10 to 26 per 10,000 while among those with mild mental retardation the rate is about 0.4 per 10,000. It is characterized by social isolation, odd and pedantic speech, poor nonverbal communication, and preoccupation with certain idiosyncratic interests (Wing, 1918). Thus, it shares many features with autism (Kanner, 1943) and also has some overlap with schizoid personality disorder of childhood as described by Wolff and Chick (1980). Although some authorities regard it as a mild variant of autism, others have suggested that the term Asperger syndrome not be used "until and empirically based distinction from higher-level autism can be demonstrated" (Schopler, 1985). While there is still no consensus on its diagnostic features, it is said to differ from autism in its reltively better preserved verbal skills and worse motor development. Although it is proposed to be included in the ICD-10 (World health Organization, 1987), its exact place within the pervasive developmental disorders of childhood is far from clear (Tsai, 1990). Some recent reports have implied that patients with Asperger syndrome may be predisposed to violent behalvor. Thus, Mawson, Grounds, and Tantam (1985) described a 44-year-old man with a long history of violent behavior which led to frequent psychiatric admissions. He got involved in such violent acts as stabbing a girl in the wrist with a screwdriver because he did not like