Maureen Eldred: (reading her letter): "Dear Professor Appleby, Autism is NOT a mental illness and if treated as such, with inappropriately prescribed cocktails of dangerously addictive drugs, as in my own daughter's and innumerable other cases..."

Peter White: This letter, to the Government's so-called "Mental Health Czar", is one of many Mrs. Eldred has written to draw attention to what she believes is the inappropriate treatment being given to her daughter. Despite being a withdrawn and rather troubled child, she had successfully held down a job for ten years, but after a sudden change of circumstances (she left home and bought a house) she began behaving erratically; but her mother thinks that despite the evidence given to them, the profession misinterpreted her symptoms./p>

Maureen Eldred: The actual letter she wrote to the psychologist had all the clues in it, which anyone who is an expert in Asperger's syndrome would have picked up immediately. She explained how she had always been very anxious at school, how she'd hated it; she couldn't cope with the other children; didn't know how to mix. The psychiatrist she was eventually sent to see hadn't got the training to recognize the symptoms and he diagnosed her as not being mentally or physically ill, in spite of which he started her on anti-psychotic drugs.

Peter White: Maureen Eldred claims that the drugs prescribed caused a major deterioration in her daughter's health, and triggered behaviour which has on three occasions - the latest only recently - led to her being detained under The Mental Health Act. She also claims that a subsequent diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome, obtained privately, has been ignored and inappropriate drugs have continued to be given.

Maureen Eldred: She used to be a very quiet person; a person who'd fade into the background because she didn't like to be the centre of attention. Since taking these terrible drugs she's completely changed - she's very loud, disinhibited; she's 6 stones overweight; she doesn't care about her appearance; she says she's ugly.

Peter White: Hillington Hospital NHS Trust won't discuss this individual case. They invoke "Patient Confidentiality." They say they are sorry Mrs. Eldred is unhappy with the treatment given to her daughter and that they will be meeting her to discuss how her concerns can be resolved. But this is not an isolated case. Dr. Judith Gould of the NAS (National Autistic Society) runs a diagnostic unit:-

Dr. Judith Gould: We certainly have referrals to our Diagnostic Centre as part of the NAS where there are people who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia and very clearly this is an incorrect diagnosis and they do have Asperger's syndrome. So it is something that is happening, I think still quite frequently.

Peter White: This view is confirmed by Paul Shattock who runs the Autism Research Unit at Sunderland University. He acknowledges that there is sometimes a complex mix of psychological problems, which can make a diagnosis difficult.

Paul Shattock: One has to say that in people with Asperger's syndrome or autism there is no reason why you shouldn't have some sort of psychotic state superimposed on top of that. It does happen. Often the medications that are required to treat schizophrenia are completely and utterly one hundred per cent opposite to those required to treat Asperger's syndrome. For example, you might have one drug, which inhibits dopamine production or dopamine transmission in schizophrenia, which is appropriate, but in the case of Asperger's syndrome it is completely wrong. There is already evidence of insufficient dopamine transmission in people with Asperger's syndrome so the medication will, in fact, make the underlying Asperger's syndrome worse rather than better.

Peter White: Wendy Lawson thinks her case is a classic illustration of this. Because of what was regarded as "odd" behaviour - twitching; talking to herself - she was sent to a psychiatrist when she was 17. This was over 30 years ago; before Asperger's was widely recognized. She described to me the interview which led to her diagnosis:-

Wendy Lawson: "Wendy. Do you hear voices?", which I said 'Yes' to because, obviously, people who can hear - that's what voices are for. So I said, 'Yes', being very literal in my understanding. He asked me also if I 'see things' and I said, "Yes, I do have an eyesight problem. I only have sight in one eye but I still see things." He then formed a conclusion that I was detached from reality and that I had auditory and visual hallucinations which equates to schizophrenia.

Peter White: What she had done is to exhibit typical Asperger's behaviour; taking his questions absolutely literally. But as a result she was sent to a psychiatric hospital and over the years given a cocktail of anti-psychotic drugs which have given her a range of unpleasant physical and mental effects. It wasn't until 25 years later that she was re-diagnosed "Asperger's." She is now married. She has 4 children and is a social worker but the effect of this misdiagnosis on her life has been profound.

Wendy Lawson: Well, it stole many years from me. Some people have died because of misdiagnosis. Some people have lost their lives completely, literally. Others have just given up and fallen into the system. Many probably walk our streets.

Peter White: But with our increased knowledge of Asperger's, why are these cases still happening? And why do they take so long to resolve?

Dr. Judith Gould thinks it's because the profession often isn't prepared to listen to the right people:-

Dr. Judith Gould: Unfortunately, when we are talking about adults the view is that it is not politically correct to be seeing them as the child of the parents. Quite often the parents really understand and would be able to advocate very appropriately for their offspring, but this is always the problem that parents are not listened to.

Maureen Eldred: People like my daughter become trapped in the Mental Health system because there's not enough training in Asperger's syndrome among doctors, psychiatrists, and so people like my daughter lose their lives quite literally. She has no quality of life. She's just a "THING" that they keep throwing drugs at, at the moment.

Presenter: Maureen Eldred ending that report from Peter White.

Joining me:- James Mackie, a prospective Conservative MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament), who is campaigning on behalf of a number of Asperger's patients and their relatives; and Dr. Tom Harrison, a Rehabilitation Psychiatrist in South Birmingham.

Dr. Harrison - Firstly, do you accept that cases of misdiagnosis are still happening?

Dr. Tom Harrison: I think, quite clearly, a number of cases have been missed and there is a number of reasons for that. I work in rehabilitation psychiatry and see a number of people whose diagnosis has been missed, certainly.

Presenter: And why is that happening? Because it is so complex?

Dr. Tom Harrison: I think it's partly because it's so complex. I mean, it's become known to psychiatrists more widely in the last 10 years and it's still something of an unusual experience for most psychiatrists. I mean, it's very unlikely that many adult psychiatrists will see a case of autism or Asperger's syndrome that hasn't already been diagnosed.

Presenter: And yet we heard there that the effect of misdiagnosis can be profound. Some people have even lost their lives!

Dr. Tom Harrison: Oh! I mean, I think that's absolutely unquestioned that it's a disaster; both the lack of diagnosis and the effects on the family when things aren't recognized and the appropriate things are put into place.

Presenter: James Mackie - How many cases like this do you know about?

James Mackie: Personally, over two dozen and that's across both Scotland and England.

Presenter: And why do you think the psychiatric profession is getting it wrong so often?

James Mackie: Unfortunately, most of the psychiatrists come across as being very arrogant and are perceived as being "Gods in white coats", and despite other professionals giving their opinion that these people do have an Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and the parents who are the experts in every individual case are just totally ignored.

Presenter: Dr. Harrison - Are you arrogant? I mean, why don't you listen to parents and other people who know about Asperger's? Maureen Eldred said she could SEE her daughter's health was deteriorating when she was put on these anti-psychotic drugs! Why don't you listen to the experts - the people who live with the patients?

Dr. Tom Harrison: Personally, I'm very lucky. I have a very specialized job in Rehabilitation Psychiatry where I have much more time and am perhaps more sensitised to people with Asperger's syndrome, in the sense that I have now seen probably 20 myself that I have picked up as cases that have been referred to me by my colleagues.

Presenter: But do you listen to carers, Dr. Harrison? Do you listen to parents?

Dr. Tom Harrison: One of the things I have the time to do is to be able to sit down with parents and spend quite a long time taking the history about what has happened to the child, the person, in the past - their children in the past - where I can, though I have a number of people whose parents I have not been able to contact because they have been isolated.

James Mackie: It's not an excuse that they don't have time. A psychiatrist normally sees a patient on a ward once a week for about 10-15 minutes if the patient is lucky. And it's not only the parents that they're ignoring - there's other professionals. I know of one in Scotland, a Neuro-Psychologist, who is recognized as being the expert in autism in Scotland, and on a number of occasions - very many occasions - when he has given his diagnosis and it's been handed on to a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist has totally ignored it. The psychiatrist on the ward has taken all his information from his ward staff. They are not trained in autism and, unfortunately, many of the traits of autism are similar to schizophrenia, so if you have got ward staff who are trained just to observe purely schizophrenia, that is all they will see and that is all they will report back to the psychiatrist.

Presenter: Dr. Harrison - Is there a need for better training amongst psychiatrists, so Asperger's sufferers won't be seen as "things you throw drugs at," as Maureen Eldred said.

Dr. Tom Harrison: I mean, I think unquestionably that - er - I personally think there probably needs to be more specialists who are aware of Asperger's. The whole way of working with someone with Asperger's is entirely different to working with people with schizophrenia, and - er, I mean - I have to dispute Mr. Mackie's view that people haven't got time. My colleagues have often 300 or 400 patients to see with lots of new cases coming in every week. It is very difficult because the time you have to take to work with someone with Asperger's is a long period of working with time, and I've seen a number and I've been lucky to have the opportunity to be able to spend that time.

Presenter: Dr. Tom Harrison and James Mackie - Thank you both.