Lifelong eccentricity and social isolation. I. Psychiatric, social, and forensic aspects.

Sixty individuals are described who have lifelong eccentricity and social isolation and who have sought psychiatric treatment as a direct or an indirect result. They were predominantly young and, as in other samples of autistic people, male (6M: 1F). Most of them were of normal intelligence. They were all profoundly socially handicapped: few had lived independently, had lasting sexual relationships or spent much time in employment. Nearly a half of the subjects had been involved in antisocial behaviour at some stage. Nearly a quarter had committed a criminal offence. Violence was usually domestic, most often directed against the mother. Forty-eight per cent of subjects had a second psychiatric disorder (11.7% had a psychosis).