Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Affective Deprivation Disorder

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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was speedy deleted by Oldwindybear. Whispering 11:46, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Affective Deprivation Disorder

Affective Deprivation Disorder (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) – (View log)

The topic seems to be the recent invention of a non-notable person Maxine Aston and has never been peer reviewed. There are only 7 entries in Google [1] two resolve to Maxine Aston's personal webpage [2][3], two resolve to postings promoting Maxine Aston's website on a non-notable MSN group [4][5] one refers to a link to a blog, as yet unindexed, promoting Maxine Aston's website [6] one refers to an index of recent updates for the same, unindexed, blog, [7] and one refers to a blog that has recently been deleted [8]. This doesn't even come close to WP:NOTE. There are plenty of citations in the article, but any that do not reference Maxine Aston's personal site are only sources for established concepts, such as alexithymia that are referred to in the course of the article. The links clearly show that, in it's previous incarnation Affective Deprivation Disorder was previously referred to as Cassandra phenomenon and, as such, was rejected from inclusion as a non-notable application of the term (which seems to have other, quite different applications, elsewhere) Talk:Cassandra phenomenon. I was tempted to request a "speedy" but as the individual who created this article seems so enthusiastic about it I felt sure it was more suitable for AFD. Zeraeph 17:42, 18 July 2007 (UTC)


I strongly support deleting the article. Aston has never published any research, so is not a 'researcher' as the article claims. No graduate degree. She's not qualified to introduce new psych disorders.

This material has already been rejected by wiki editors as "Cassandra Affective Disorders", it has simply been rebranded here. CeilingCrash 17:21, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

added by CeilingCrash
More directly, the article is Original Research as the only material references are the author's web-site. 208.49.146.130 18:27, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
  • No, but not in a medical field, and she doesn't have any academically recognised work at all...and APART from which, she doesn't actually CALL it Affective Deprivation Disorder on her site...she calls it Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder so that, barring verifiable sources for the presence of a Tardis in soulgany's front drive, the title alone is WP:OR--Zeraeph 02:36, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Comment I forgot that aspect...WP:OR--Zeraeph 18:43, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

  • Delete Wasn't suitable for a speedy, as theories (or diseases) aren't one of the classes for speedy as non-notable. She is certainly not yet notable as a scientist, "I achieved a first class honours Psychology Bachelors degree at Coventry University in 1999. I am currently working towards a Masters degree in Health Psychology." from her home page. [9] which also thoroughly indicates the non-notability of this proposed disorder. DGG (talk) 21:18, 18 July 2007 (UTC)


::There are some wild claims going on here, firstly that I (Soulgany101 21:27, 18 July 2007 (UTC)) am Maxine Aston, which I am not. Secondly, there is a claim that no reliable information has been cited. Although this may have been true for the precursor article 'CAD' it is not relevant now as there are many reliable sources about alexithymia and its impact on relationships, see below:

1. ^ http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/cassandra/
2. ^ Emotional Intelligence, and Alexithymia are found to be independent but highly overlapping constructs, and are inversely scored. See- Parker, J.D.A., Taylor, G.J. and Bagby, R.M (2001) 'The relationship between emotional intelligence and alexithymia' Journal of Personality and Individual Differences 30, 107-115
3. ^ http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/cassandra/
4. ^ Alexithymia is thought to affect 10% of the overall population (Linden, W., Wen, F., Paulhaus, D. L. (1994) Measuring alexithymia: reliability, validity, and prevalence. In: J. Butcher, C. Spielberger, (Eds.). Advances in Personality Assessment. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.). Alexithymia has a representative prevalence of 85% in autistic spectrum disorders (Hill, E., Berthoz, S., & Frith, U (2004) ‘Brief report: cognitive processing of own emotions in individuals with autistic spectrum disorder and in their relatives.’ Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 34, 2, 229-235), 40% in posttraumatic stress disorder (Shipko, S., Alvarez, A., & Noviello, N. (1983). Towards a Teological Model of Alexithymia: Alexithymia and Post–Traumatic Stress Disorder. Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, 39, 122–126), 63% anorexia nervosa and 56% in bulimia (Cochrane, C.E., Brewerton, T.D., Wilson, D.B. & Hodges, E.L. (1993) ‘Alexithymia in eating disorders.’ International Journal of Eating Disorders 14, 219-222) , 45% in major depressive disorder (Honkalampi, K., Hintikka, J., Laukkanen, E., Lehtonen, J. and Viinamäki, H. (2001) ‘Alexithymia and depression: a prospective study of patients with major depressive disorder.’ Journal of Psychosomatics 42, 229-234), 34% in panic disorder (Cox BJ, Swinson RP, Shulman ID, Bourdeau D (1995): Alexithymia in panic disorder and social phobia. Comprehensive Psychiatry 36/8:195-198), and 50% in substance abusers (Taylor, G.J., Parker, J.D.A., & Bagby, R.M. (1990) ‘A preliminary investigation of alexithymia in men with psychoactive substance dependence.’ American Journal of Psychiatry 147, 1228-1230). Alexithymia is further linked with schizotypal, dependent, avoidant, and borderline personality disorders, as well as psychosomatic disorders such as migraine headaches, lower back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, nausea, allergy, hypertension or fibromyalgia (Taylor, G.J., Bagby, R.M. and Parker, J.D.A. (1997) Disorders of Affect Regulation: Alexithymia in medical and psychiatric illness. Cambridge University Press).
5. ^ Moriguchi, Y., Decety, J., Ohnishi, T., Maeda, M., Matsuda, H., & Komaki, G. Empathy and judging other’s pain: An fMRI study of alexithymia. Cerebral Cortex (2007); Bird, J., Silani, G., Brindley, R., Singer, T., Frith, U., and Frith, C. Alexithymia In Autistic Spectrum Disorders: and fMRI Investigation (2006)
6. ^ Taylor, G. J. Bagby, R. M., Parker. D.A., Disorders of Affect Regulation Cambridge (1997)
7. ^ http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/cassandra/
8. ^ Nemiah, C.J., Freyberger, H., & Sifneos, P.E., ‘Alexithymia: A View of the Psychosomatic Process’ in O.W.Hill (1970) (ed), Modern Trends in Psychosomatic Medicine, Vol-2, p.432-33; Krystal, H. Integration and Self-Healing: Affect, Trauma, Alexithymia (1988), p. 246; McDougall, J. Theaters of the Mind 1985, p.169-70; Taylor, G.J, Parker, J.D.A., & Bagby, R.M. Disorders of Affect Regulation- Alexithymia in Medical and Psychiatric Illness (1997), p.246-47
9. ^ Yelsma, P., Marrow, S. - 'An Examination of Couples' Difficulties With Emotional Expressiveness and Their Marital Satisfaction' in Journal of Family Communication 3 (2003) p.41-62 [1]
10. ^ Winters, J., Clift, R. J. W., & Dutton, D. G. - Emotional Intelligence and Domestic Abuse' in Journal of Family Violence 19 (2004) p. 255-267 [2]
11. ^ Brackett et al - 'Emotional Intelligence and Relationship Quality Among Couples' in Personal Relationships, 12 (2005) p.197-212 [3]
12. ^ http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/
13. ^ http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/cassandra/healing.shtml
14. ^ http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/


So if there is some problem with a particular detail of the entry it can be debated in the discussion area of that entry, and altered or improved if necessary.Soulgany101 21:27, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Comment. The article under discussion is not the Wikipedia article on alexithymia. The sources cited above (except for http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/) are about alexithymia, and not about "Affective Deprivation Disorder", which is what this AfD is about. So why are these sources supposed to be relevant to the issue under discussion? They do not establish notability. A Google search on ["Affective Deprivation Disorder" -maxineaston] gave only five hits. The Acronym Finder does not have this meaning for AfDD.[10] The term is a neologism for an unverifiable disorder.  --Lambiam 22:18, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
  • Keep I put a cleanup-verify template. The sources above should be incorporated in the article --Victor falk 21:55, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

comment As Zaraeph pointed out, the credible references listed only speak of alexithymia, the existence and definition of "Affective Deprivation Disorder" is mentioned nowhere except by Aston on her website.

This is precisely original research.

"Original research (OR) is a term used in Wikipedia to refer to unpublished facts, arguments, concepts, statements, or theories. The term also applies to any unpublished analysis or synthesis of published material that appears to advance a position ...

Note this does not imply Aston wrote the article herself. Only that it originates here. I don't believe any reasonable defense can be made to keep this article. CeilingCrash 22:04, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

    • comment One small problem, none of the WP:RS above relate to, or even mention, the topic of the article! They only reference established concepts the article refers to that already have their own articles, like Alexithymia or Domestic violence not one of them refers to Affective Deprivation Disorder. If you were to remove everything that has no WP:RS you would be left with an article that did not mention it's topic at all, literally.--Zeraeph 22:07, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
      • Comment I have just removed all statement that do not have a valid WP:RS (see:[11]). There is literally nothing left of Affective Deprivation Disorder let's just merge the rest into alexithymia where it belongs and delete this homemade PD. Only in doing this did I realise that somebody actually posted "Diagnostic Criteria" as though it were recognised and in the DSM, that is downright dangerous. --Zeraeph 22:19, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Reposting. (Please do not corrupt the way I present my post. To repost below it, as you have done is fine.)

  • Nowhere is AfDD claimed as a DSM disorder, and it is incorrect to suggest that it was.
  • The article is not about alexithymia, but about relationships in which alexithymia and low EI play one contributing role only.
  • Reliable clinical references have been supplied verifying that alexithymia or low-EI negatively impacts, and creates disorder patterns in relationships - see: [1][2][3]
  • This term does not have its locus in a personality disorder or trait (as with alexithymia or personality disorders) nor to a behaviour (such as domestic violence) but has its locus in relationship. As a relational disorder (which includes clear references to relationship) it requires its own article. Soulgany101 23:24, 18 July 2007 (UTC)


  • Nowhere is AfDD claimed as a DSM disorder, and it is incorrect to suggest that it was.Soulgany101 23:24, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
    • Comment No, and I did not suggest it was, but the inclusion of self published, homemade "Diagnostic Criteria" could easily cause people to mistake it for one --Zeraeph 23:47, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
  • The article is not about alexithymia, but about relationships in which alexithymia and low EI play one contributing role only. Soulgany101 23:24, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
    • Comment Well unfortunately the only references you can provide related to alexithymia etc...you have not a single reference in accord with WP:V to substantiate the existance Affective Deprivation Disorder, the topic YOU chose for the article, let alone it's notability. I have a website, if I publish a couple of pages on Affected Credential Tenacity Disorder on each of them, that won't make it real or notable, no matter how many citations I can find for Affected, Credential, Tenacity and Disorder to create a Wikipedia article.--Zeraeph 23:47, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
  • Reliable clinical references have been supplied verifying that alexithymia or low-EI negatively impacts, and creates disorder patterns in relationships. Soulgany101 23:24, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
    • Comment But that doesn't verify the existance of Affective Deprivation Disorder, the topic YOU chose for the article. In fact, what you claim should either be a subsection of alexithymia or, at a push, something like alexithymia in relationships, which did not mention Affective Deprivation Disorder at all unless you could provided a published, peer reviewed source for it's existance as a recognised disorder by that name, and which would have to show proper references in accord with WP:V for every condition you claimed to be related. --Zeraeph 23:47, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
  • This term does not have its locus in a personality disorder or trait (as with alexithymia or personality disorders) nor to a behaviour (such as domestic violence) but has its locus in relationship. As a relational disorder (which includes clear references to relationship) it requires its own article. Soulgany101 23:24, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
    • Comment It seems to me the term was made up by Maxine Aston when she found out she couldn't co-opt Cassandra Syndrome to use Wikipedia as a springboard for the Google rankings of her commercially driven, self published, personal website. --Zeraeph 23:47, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
  • comment The quotations are sufficient to support articles on emotional intelligence or on "alexithymia" written from a more general perspective; I see no evidence that the terminology suggested by Ashton here has ever been used. DGG (talk) 23:57, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
    • comment My point exactly...and as there are already articles on emotional intelligence and alexithymia I would support merging the verifiable sections in an heartbeat. --Zeraeph 00:13, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
  • comment This article is an attempt to synthesize credible information about alexithymia into a new thesis, about a 'relational disorder'. Wikipedia is unmistakably clear on this issue :
"An edit counts as original research if it does any of the following:
It introduces a new theory or method of solution;
It introduces original ideas;
It defines new terms;
It provides or presumes new definitions of pre-existing terms;
It introduces an argument, without citing a reputable source for that argument, that purports to refute or support another idea, theory, argument, or position;
It introduces an analysis or synthesis of established facts, ideas, opinions, or arguments in a way that builds a particular case favored by the editor, without attributing that analysis or synthesis to a reputable source;
It introduces or uses neologisms, without attributing the neologism to a reputable source.

In short, you can't just make cr@p up and toss it up on wikipedia. "CeilingCrash 00:23, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.