Ronson Chapter 10

The main focus of chapter 10 was about the misdiagnosis and misuse of the DSM checklist. Ronson explains how the checklist has grown over the years, and basically one non-normal thing about someone is considered a disorder in the checklist. When these checklists became available, more average people bought the checklist rather than medical professionals. This lead to self diagnosis, which eventually benefited the drug companies. Robert Spitzer, the man responsible for the DSM, says that the checklist was diagnosing people with disorders, when in reality they didn't really have them - they were completely normal. The chapter also explains how children and being misdiagnosed and given medications which lead to severe side effects or even death, in Rebecca Riley's case. Spitzer says that children were being misdiagnosed simply for acting like most kids do at times - hyper and bouncing off the walls.

I loved reading this book as it was different from anything I have ever read and it was nice being able to read something that wasn't a textbook! It made me think differently about society, and how so many people can really have all of these disorders or be misdiagnosed. It also made me realize how judgmental people can be and how some people may overanalyze situations, which can be detrimental. I enjoyed the ending, as the majority of the story was Ronson's journey visiting psychopaths and analyzing everyone he met, when in the end, the story tells us that many people are misdiagnosed. The story shows us that many people are normal, they just may have some weird or strange characteristics about them. a