don't even get me started on the DSM, which is little more than an effort to re-neurosis-ize the post-Freudian landscape.
that said, appropriate treatment by a knowledgeable and experienced professional can do wonderful things.
Don't buy the whole expanded ADD thing, though.
The entire world we live in is full of contradiction in EVERY direction we look in.
We can find hypocrisy, faultiness, distrust, etc. in just about anything that exists (except for maybe a perfect circle or other symmetrically correct, geometrical shapes and figures).
Regardless of why the DSM was created, what it has been evolved and revised to, and what propaganda, theories about, and opposition that has become of it, I believe that it can stand as a decent marker for some individuals in my experience and for a medication that MAY control the symptoms of one's specified disorder.
Whether or not the DSM tricks many unknowing, uneducated, or gullible people into thinking they chaulk a label onto something that they don't really have, I believe that I do have something neurologically wrong that can be corrected with proper medication.
If you have an endless amount of monkeys playing pianos, eventually you'll come to one that plays the National Anthem.
I don't agree with one doctor. Not 2, 3, 4... When I dedicate months of my life to studying day and night on diagnoses typical and subtypical with mine and read and reflect on the experience and journeys of others with the same condition who've each had his/her own personal experiences and revelation... when 3 independant doctors suggest I may have something and a team of 5 psychologists, 2 psychiatrists, and a social worker acting together to give an accurate diagnosis as a foundation for a treatment plan.... when I weigh out all of my known possibilities and debate it over and over with 3rd parties... when I rule out the confounding variables up to and including: maybe it's all in my mind? maybe I read so many cases that I actually transcend their disorder onto me? etc...
After all of that, that's enough for me to make a conclusion for myself that is concurrent with statements and diagnoses made by professionals for whom have no alterior motive to misdiagnose me.
As for other people, sure the DSM is a tool. Tools can be used for the good or bad of mankind. Take it for what it is. It's a reference. It can help people synthesize proper treatment protocol, or it can trick people into believing that they need 'this' or 'that' medicine in order to live a normal life and be accepted by society.
Open-minded people get help to help themselves.
Close-minded people always look for someone to help them.
