I don't think of any serious mental illness being over diagnosed. Episodes of depression and anxiety in otherwise healthy people are medicated too frequently by doctors in the US, but when it comes to anything that requires long term care answers and help are hard to come by.

Seeing ads for Latuda and Abilify in women's magazines does bother me. How many people actually need an AP medication considering the long term side effects? It's kind of scary that doctors are writing scripts for these meds without proper training. It's bad enough that they send people out with antidepressants all the time.

In my experience, help and a diagnosis is hard to find until you are in the system and on a public health plan. I ended up in the ER before I got any help, despite trying on and off for years. If my illness had been caught when I was young it would have saved me a lot of suffering. With my out of control, reckless behavior and dark depressions I am very lucky that I didn't die before finding real treatment.

My opinion is that the problem with mental health care in America is that we rely on family doctors to diagnose and prescribe. You either have to be rich or flat on your butt broke to find care.