Over-diagnosis is a serious issue. There is a plethora of evidence that most diagnoses are results of drug companies trying to make big profits. It's no lie that pharmaceutical companies benefit more with more patients. The easiest way to obtain more patients is to make the masses believe they have a disorder. It is quite clear that as time goes on, the diagnostic criteria for mental disorders and other diseases is constantly broadening. Though this does help people who really do need the medicine be noticed, it puts those who don't need medication at risk for harmful side effects of pills that weren't made for them. There are people who need to be subdued by medication, and then there are those who don't, and the line between those two is growing fuzzier every day, and drug companies are benefitting. Even if it isn't a scam, who is to say that everyone who can't concentrate needs a prescription filled out because they have ADD, or is autistic just because they are a little awkward? Maybe the truly harmful effect of hasty over-diagnosis is the fact that no one is seeing these disorders as gifts and letting the child choose whether they want to be "fixed" or not.
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