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I completely concur with NMF.
Traditional variations in behavior were not seen as pathologies in the past. It was expected that some people were more exhuberant, some shyer, some more depressed. We weren't all expected to conform to the same set of behavioral or emotional standards.
I contend that ADD is overdiagnosed because too many teachers are unable to deal with non-conforming or non-compliant children. Overcrowded classrooms require children to sit still and be quiet. As a result, children, most often boys, who do not sit still are pathololgized. If we didn't require children to sit for hours on end, doing repetitive and routine work, we would likely have fewer children on medication.
Similarly, the moment someone feels unhappy or sad, people are certain that said indiviudal is "depressed" and needs an SSRI. Many times there is situational depression, and it does not require a pill at all, but changes to the situation, or time.
Finally, we should be considered with the "pill can fill my children's problems" mentality, when very young children are being prescribed powerful antipsychotic medications for supposed bi-polar disorder, etc., often diagnosed as young as age three or four. Normal variations and developmental patterns in young children suggest that tantrums etc are developmentally appropriate, and not necessarily pathologies. Sometimes, poor parenting, limit setting, etc. results in behavior that is now being medicated with drugs that have never been tested on children, and for which we have no long term studies.
Certainly a number of illnesses, pathologies etc. exist, including in children. But people want an easy fix, want all behavior normalized (whatever that means) and for children to be compliant within a set of school or society standards that seems to limit the variations that are completely normal in human behavior. This is an increasingly worrying trend, as the number of medicated children continues to rise, exponentially, every year.
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