Mental Disorder

What is a mental disorder? That is a very good question. Learning in Psychology.

A mental disorder is defined as a psychological condition that is

1. deviant (unusual in the cultural context),
2. distressful (causes suffering), and
3. dysfunctional (interferers with the individual’s ability to work, live, or go to school).

Gender Dysphoria was previously called Gender Identity Disorder.

The removal of the word “disorder” from the condition is important because it recognizes that being a trans person is not itself a form of mental illness.

Homosexuality was removed as a form of treatable mental illness from DSM II in 1973, instantly curing millions of people of a “mental disorder” overnight.

It’s crazy then, mental disorder is actually socially constructed $\to$ Cultural Relativism

This reinforces my understanding of society.

History

Throughout history there have been three general theories of the etiology (causes) of mental illness:

1. Supernatural: Developing from origins beyond the visible observable universe
2. Somatogenic: Developing from physical/bodily origins
3. Psychogenic: Developing from psychological origins