One quarter of you have already been flushed out and diagnosed!
The massive “naturalist’s field guide” that is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has already tagged and bagged you.
A most serious problem, common to field guides, is the difficulty of separating entities that are similar in appearance.
The new emphasis on symptoms… has unfortunately encouraged a cursory “top-down” method that relies on checklists and ignores much of the narrative of …patients’ lives.
You coo like a mourning dove. But maybe you’re not depressed!
[P]sychiatrists using the DSM diagnosis “major depression” tend to mingle bereaved patients with both those afflicted by classic melancholia and those demoralized by circumstances. The mixing of similar-appearing patients who have conditions that are distinct in nature probably explains why use of this diagnostic category expanded over time and suggests why the effectiveness of antidepressant medications given to people with a diagnosis of major depression has, of late, been questioned. This tendency to blur natural distinctions may explain why other DSM diagnoses — such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and attention deficit disorder — have been overused, if not abused.
And don’t forget Hartz Mountain Industries.
[A] diagnostic category based on checklists can be promoted by industries or persons seeking to profit from marketing its recognition; indeed, pharmaceutical companies have notoriously promoted several DSM diagnoses in the categories of anxiety and depression.