PDA as Existential Dread
Framing Pathological Demand Avoidance as a Dysregulated Resistance to Self-Erasure
We often talk about Pathological Demand Avoidance (aka Persistent Drive for Autonomy or PDA) in behavioral terms — as a neurodivergent profile within the autism spectrum characterized by an extreme avoidance of everyday demands. But what if we look deeper? What if PDA is not just a behavioral quirk, but an existential signal — a visceral protest against erasure?
What if PDA is, at its core, a form of death anxiety?