Thank you for highlighting an important point. DSM made symptoms all-important for diagnosing conditions, because they didn't want to impose any particular psychotherapeutic approach on the whole field. But as you point out, this framework has led to an overemphasis on symptoms and symptom reduction. At it's worst, in the hands of the insurance companies, symptom reduction is all that matters because it can be "measured."

The neurodiversity movement is spearheading the challenge to the notion that "normal" is ideal or healthiest, and is attempting to help our society understand that different can just mean different.