Definition
Diagnostic overshadowing refers to the negative bias impacting a clinician’s judgment regarding co-occurring disorders in individuals who have intellectual disabilities or other mental illness. Symptoms or behaviors that may be due to a specific mental illness are attributed to another disorder, historically Mental Retardation, without considering alternative etiology.
Historical Background
Reiss, Levtan, and Szyszko first coined the term “diagnostic overshadowing” to describe the tendency to assess individuals with intellectual disability less accurately (Reiss, Levitan, & McNally, 1982; Reiss, Levitan, & Szyszko, 1982; Reiss & Szyszko, 1983). Subsequent research has consistently demonstrated that the cognitive deficits displayed by an individual negatively impacted the ability of clinicians to make accurate judgments with regard to other co-occurring disorders (c.f., Jopp & Keys, 2001; White et al., 1995).
Jopp and Keys provide a review of the concept of diagnostic...
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Kanne, S. (2013). Diagnostic Overshadowing. In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_398
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_398
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