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I like what Moira was getting at in her post. I don't know if I would say that certain mental disorders are caused by our society, but I would certainly say that many are exacerbated by it. Now, if you are a high school student who wants to get into a good college, you need to be involved in several extra-curricular activities, you need to have good grades, you need to volunteer, you need to play an instrument, you need to have good SAT scores, you need to take AP classes, et cetera. That is maybe exaggerated but I think that these increased demands on students are leading to a lot of stress early on.

When I was a kid, we still played outside and knew how to entertain ourselves. Now everyone has cell phones and ipods and games and other small devices. Of course more kids are going to be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD now. I'm sure more adults will be too. I can't even sit down to have dinner with friends without them checking their phones and texting throughout the meal. We have quickly been trained to constantly be thinking about something else and never be totally focused on the present. So I would argue that nearly everyone in our technologically advanced society has ADD. Does the DSM address the role technology plays in ADD? I doubt it.