An old article, but I’ve only just discovered it.
In their attempt to pathologise and thereby profit from treatment of every mildly socially undesirable behaviour, members of the American Psychiatric Association are seeking to include shyness, disobedience and grief at the loss of a loved one in DSM-V, the proposed fifth edition of the psychiatrist’s Bible.
Shy children may find themselves diagnosed with “social anxiety disorder” and children who are sad after losing a loved one may find themselves being told that they have “depressive disorder”.
Especially chilling is the inclusion of “oppositional defiant disorder”, in which children who question authority may be forced to undergo therapy, lest they continue to be defiant as adults. This is one of those circumstances where a comparison to Orwell’s 1984 is actually valid; creating a generation of young people in whom all rebellion, an essential component of a free society, has been stamped out is likely to be disastrous for democracy and may result is the next generation being even more passive drones than the current one.
One cannot help but wonder how long it will be before every single person is classified with some kind of disorder.