The Adult Autism Subthreshold Spectrum (AdAS) model: A neurodevelopmental approach to mental disorders

A growing interest has been devoted to adult presentations of Autism Spectrum Disorders. This led to focus on comorbidity between ASD and other mental disorders, mainly (but notlimited to) Borderline Personality Disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, Mood Disorders and Eating Disorders. The presence of any psychiatric comorbidity can mask ASD, in particular in subjects with no intellectual impairment. To address this psychopathological issue, studies adopting the AdAS questionnaire, an instrument with strong convergent validity with alternative dimensional measures of ASD and excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability, able to detect subthreshold forms of ASD in adulthood, have been reviewed. Based on these evidences, the Subthreshold Autism Spectrum Model has been developed,which includes threshold-level manifestations but also mild/atypical symptoms of the disorder, gender-specific features, behavioral manifestations and personality traits associated with ASD. This model encompasses, although not coinciding with, the Broad Autism Phenotype. This is a subthreshold form of autism described in the context of the neurodevelopmental trajectory that – starting from autistic traits – might lead to the broad range of mental disorders. Therefore, the Adult Autism Spectrum can be considered a transnosographic dimension. This approach should help to detect individual features for certain autistic cognitive and behavioural patterns that may predispose to other mental disorders.