Critical Analysis Of The Lost Girls

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Barely 100 years ago autism was first being diagnosed in schizophrenic patients. Since it first being used it has been studied and communities around the world have learned more about autism but it isn 't enough. Females with autism are 4 times less likely to get diagnosed which can have severe impacts on their mental health. Although there have been few strides of progress in this area of females with autism there have been more and more articles being created to bring focus onto these girls. Through a critical analysis of “The Lost Girls” by Apoorva Mandavilli only good things can be found pointing out the sexism and lack of information in autism and how it affects females. Throughout the article Mandavilli brings up the point of how girls …show more content…

Maya has autism and was willing to share her story with the world in hopes of assisting others going through the traumatic times she went through. It took Maya 10 years to get a proper diagnosis of autism and it took a toll on her mental health. At one point “psychiatrist number 12 met with her for all of seven minutes and sent her out with no answers” a sadly common occurrence for females with autism. Maya was misdiagnosed multiple times with disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Maya became obsessed with her weight and what foods she ate and developed an eating disorder like many women with autism and became deeply depressed. Maya was very smart and got into Cambridge university but her depression came back and she attempted suicide whilst in school. She ended up in coma and was in the hospital for 18 months dealing with the after effects of her attempt. During those 18 months Maya finally got a proper diagnosis of autism and for the first time in her life was able to properly figure out a plan of action. In the article Mandavilli mentions that Maya was only figured out when she talked about how she hated bank holidays because weekdays are for working. Mandavilli also adds, “For some males you can make the diagnosis at least provisionally in your mind within 10 minutes of them coming into your office...Whereas for some of the women, it might take half an hour or not till halfway through a three-hour diagnostic interview before they reveal what 's behind the mask”, which is true for nearly all women being diagnosed with autism. Because women are better at hiding their symptoms and what is really going on it makes it much harder to get them a diagnosis much like Maya. This was an extremely powerful and positive addition to Mandavilli’s because thousands of women can relate to Maya’s story or perhaps see some of

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