[reorder9695]

How else would you do it? Unlike an e.g. viral infection there is no positive test you can look at. Generally a disorder is considered something that significantly impacts someone's life, getting in the way of things like working, social life, life enjoyment. I don't think you can be totally objective about this, and you get into things like if i.e. autism is mild is it a disorder? It's pretty clear to me it should be considered as such after a certain level of severity, but maybe it shouldn't always be if it has minimal impact on the person

[aleph_minus_one]

> Generally a disorder is considered something that significantly impacts someone's life, getting in the way of things like working, social life, life enjoyment.

With the same argument, we could arguue that working and social life are getting in the way how I am, thus working and social life should be considered disorders.

[hn_throwaway_99]

These reductio ad absurdum arguments are wholly unpersuasive. The fact that there are some debatable gray areas in the DSMs seems like poor reasoning to throw the baby out with the bathwater. E.g. things like schizophrenia, OCD, major depressive disorder, etc. are so highly disruptive to the individuals involved that arguing that they shouldn't be disorders (or, contrary, that anything else is a disorder) feels like an unhelpful semantic game.

[dns_snek]

A ridiculous argument. Most often a disorder will impact activities you enjoy just as much as those you don't. Very broadly speaking, if all of your symptoms go away when you get home from work then you don't have a disorder, just a demanding, stressful job. That's certainly true for disorders like ADHD and ASD that are under attack these days.

[ben_sisko]

Sounds like you need to read better books Bromaster General!

[aleph_minus_one]

> Sounds like you need to read better books Bromaster General!

I don't get this reference (that is likely rooted in US popular culture).