> It's about children

I understand that.

> don't forget that a psychiatrist is making the determination based on lots of evidence, the parent or other guardian, teacher, etc. isn't deciding this.

The psychiatrist would probably use the testimony of the parent or other guardian etc as the greatest evidence. And of course the psychiatrists own reaction to the child (e.g., whether the child seems appropriately appreciative of the psychiatrists directives and opinions as well).

It would be nice to think that psychiatrists wouldn't err... Examples of the pathologizing of political dissent and homosexuality show us that psychiatrists aren't appropriately sensitive to when their diagnosing is more to do with social norms than with dysfunction within the individual, however.

I think that this is a diagnosis that there is understandably a great deal of controversy about.

> It's probably a function of something like ADD/ADHD or another unknown.

There is similar controversy over the status of ADD/ADHD... For similar reasons...