Remember Marcus Welby, M.D.? After a few episodes, one noticed the plots falling into a painfuly predictable pattern; the same storyline written around a different "disease of the week".

Those with serious behavior problems were put into one of the available diagnostic boxes that allows society to "manage" people. (Remember the deaf labelled as retarded?)

Yes - and I also recall from very recent history a flurry of awareness of, accompanied by an increase in "diagnoses" of, Asperger's Syndrome (which coincidentally is thought by some to be an autism variant). Before that, and possibly continuing through today, there was ADD and ADHD, and a whole lot of kids on Ritalin.

From personal experience I can tell you this: there are parents (not all of them yuppies and not all from California) who find it much easier to blame an organic brain disorder than themselves for their child's perceived problems. They will go to as many professionals as it takes to find one wiling to affirm their amateur diagnosis, and prescribe the requisite medication.

While we're on the subject of psychological aberrations and parenting... Munchhausen's Syndrome; more specifically the variant called "Munchhausen's by proxy". In the direct form, the sufferer insists that her symptoms require surgery (and the recovery and attention). There seems to be no end to repeat visits, recurring symptoms, or subsequent surgeries - at least, until the patient runs out of organs. In the proxy form, it's done to the children instead, so the parent then also gets to take credit for "saving" the child, thereby directing the attention of others to herself and not to the real victim.

I suspect the insistence by some parents that their child has ADHD/autism/Asperger's ad nauseum may in itself be an emotional disorder... but by doing so, I may also be feeding into the same sociopathy.