i think it is fair to say that other countries aren't so hung up on diagnosis. part of the reason for the concern with diagnosis in the US is the way the health insurance system works. that isn't such a pressure in other parts of the world.

that being said... i think that clients often want to be diagnosed / labelled. it is a way of taking this nebulous pain and confusion and hurt and the like and putting it in a little box so it seems maneagable. i think that the public awareness of how arbitrary diagnosis is is sorely lacking. part of that is in psychiatry's attempt to underplay inter-rater reliability and portray themself as a 'real science just like medicine' where there is a fact of the matter (and it makes a real treatment difference) whether a person has x pathogen or y pathogen.

i guess the tendancy also comes out with people reading about astrology (character descriptions and predictions) on the basis of sun / star sign... or little quizes that try and tell you your character / personality and the like... maybe it is part of... people wanting to see themselves as being like others. there must be others if there is a whole dx category for it - right?

sigh.

personally... i find it dehumanising.
but others find it humanising.

so i don't know...