If both treatment and non-treatment could have dramatic consequences, I would agree with you. Criminal justice is a classic case of that. In this case, such a

If both treatment and non-treatment could have dramatic consequences, I would agree with you. Criminal justice is a classic case of that. In this case, such a tool can be used to flag behaviour automatically (Facebook does that, for instance) to start a process, i.e. have a conversation. “Depression” does not have hard-set limits, and caring about someone who had a bad day is not problematic, talking about how to deal with rejection is appropriate. Forcing them to take mind-altering substance is not ideal, but I can’t imagine any licensed doctor doing that just because some patient’s score is high, even if they do not qualify otherwise; they receive a decade of training to teach them nuance. As someone who lives with a psychiatrist, I can confirm: no one is skeptical of classification any more than the people doing the rating. Having measuring tools (imperfect as they may be initially) is what allows science to try opposable theories, and psychiatry needs this (and plenty more tools).