I skipped a good bit of school (also in the 90s), and frequently was punished for it, and consider myself to have only myself to blame. Nevertheless, I knew a

I skipped a good bit of school (also in the 90s), and frequently was punished for it, and consider myself to have only myself to blame. Nevertheless, I knew a kid, a younger brother of a friend, who had school avoidance, and it was palpably different. It was probably a situation of major depression manifesting as anxiety and defiant behavior. As the article says, it's not a concrete diagnosis. It's really more of a symptom with the same effect of putting education on hold. Knowing the parents, I am sure they tried to make him tough it out at first. I suppose you eventually go for psychiatry because the usual parenting strategies don't work. On every discussion of mental health, there seems to be one side that says "I recognize that in myself..." and another that says, "This is not a disorder". Whether it's about laziness vs executive dysfunction, social anxiety vs. awkwardness, autism spectrum vs. weirdness, depression vs saddness, or anxiety vs discomfort. Most mental health disorders are not trivial, and do not have easy solutions. While I don't doubt that some people want to become the authority on a new disease they discovered and name, I think most of the time the profession is actually trying to help people.