Is it just by number, majority/minority? If a certain behaviour is observed in the majority of people, would it still be a disorder or would it be considered merely a human trait?
In: 5
There’s multiple different definitions and they change every few years when a new version of the DSM or ICD is published. The current DSM definition literally admits its arbitrary and a sliding standard. Some are defined medically, others statistically and yet others socially.
You have a disorder if you have something that influences your life in a negative way for a prolonged amount of time.
That can be a very fine line, but that’s mainly it.
Everyone has issues. I don’t know anyone without issues. But many people are able to handle those issues. It will upset them, it may even negatively impact their life for a while, but then they are able to move on.
And there are people who have issues from which they are not able to move on. Those people (of which I am one) have a disorder.
In the United States, a committee of psychiatrists appointed by the [American Psychiatric Association]. They create publish a reference which categorizes mental disorders called the [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-5).
Latest Answers