Some people, including some people diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, argue that Asperger syndrome is a social construct and that, as a category claimed to have a clearly defined neurobiological basis, Asperger syndrome may be analogous to a host of other psychiatric labels such as ADHD, criticized by psychiatrists such as Peter Breggin and Sami Timimi; obsessive compulsive disorder; and clinical depression, much promoted by the mental health and pharmaceutical industries.
All the behavioral traits associated with Asperger syndrome occur to varying degrees in the general population. People diagnosed with Asperger syndrome vary widely in terms of intellectual, professional, and social performance, range of interests, loquacity, conformity, and hypersensitivity. Those who support the social construct theory state that no scientific proof exists of a link between severe Kanner's type autism and the geeky and slightly quirky attributes of so many in our society, and suggest that many of the typically "Aspergian" characteristics are merely on the introverted or socially less-capable end of the normality spectrum.