They feel that their power has been taken away.
When they receive a request, they perceive it as a demand. The PDAer wants to be in control of every situation. What we, as parents or teachers, see as a basic question or request, the PDAer will see as a demand, this demand will fuel their anxiety and can cause them to do use different strategies to avoid the request. The main characteristic that describes a person with PDA is that they ‘avoid everyday demands and expectations to an extreme extent.’ From what I know about it, such a diagnosis would seem quite fitting to my son who has a diagnosis of Autism, ADHD, ODD and Dyslexia. Although I’ve heard of the term over the years, it’s much more common in the UK than it is in Australia. I’m only just starting to learn about Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA).
