I hope I made it plain that all people who need treatment should get treatment, regardless of their diagnosis. The diagnosis is important if treatment fails because the underlying condition is missed. If treatment succeeds, who cares what the diagnosis is?
It's in the middle ground that the problem lies, in deciding whether what is not normal is also not dangerous to anyone. Perhaps I'm also sensitive to the problems associated with overdiagnosis of "abnormal" behavior because I've heard and read so much about the local case of Tim Masters
Peggy Hettrick murder case - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, in which behavior perhaps a little frightening in a teenager but not indicative of a homicidal personality was concluded to be so. An innocent man spent 10 years in prison for cartoons similar to those made by many pubescent boys.
I think it's important to give kids a chance to grow up, and a lot of love and support while they're doing it. We seem to have developed systems for diagnosis and treatment that we are now determined to use whether they are needed or not.
--lemit
