A case of Asperger's syndrome first diagnosed in adulthood

A 25-year-old white male patient was admitted to the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Social Psychiatry, of the University of Vienna, Austria, for severe social withdrawal, selective mutism and outbursts of violence with attacks on his mother. Careful examination revealed the presence of all the typical symptoms of Asperger's syndrome. The diagnosis had never been made before, although the patient had a history of a difficult childhood with several admissions to a child psychiatric inpatient unit for 'obsessional neurosis' and an institutional career. It is stressed that, in view of the availability of treatments and the deleterious effect of the untreated condition in the sensitive years of personality development, early recognition and diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome are of utmost importance.