[Autistic psychopathy or pervasive developmental disorder: how has Asperger's syndrome changed in the past sixty years?].

Bosch (1970) was the first author who used "Asperger's syndrome" in English literature. In those days, "Kanner's syndrome" i.e. autism, which had been under schizophrenic-versus-undeveloped arguments from the 1960's, was always contrasted with Asperger's "autistic psychopathy in children". From then on there have been vicissitudes over the notion of "Asperger's syndrome" and its clinical presentation. Nowadays, the restricted notion of "Asperger's syndrome" is dominant and used in both DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10. However, debates concerning the aspect of Asperger s "psychopathy" in clinical study and practice have long disappeared. In daily life, when we describe someone as "like Asperger's", it means a personality deviation that is to the degree of Asperger's "psychopathy". The history of Asperger's "psychopathy" is still developing in our culture.