Definition
A distinctive pattern of cognitive, and/or behavioral symptoms in an individual, arising from underlying psychobiological dysfunction and causing significant distress, impairment, or an increased risk of death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Psychological disorders do not include culturally sanctioned responses to life events (e.g., feeling sad after a significant loss).
Description
The term “psychological disorder” is often used interchangeably with similar terms, including “mental disorder” and “psychiatric illness.” It may be a preferable term to “mental disorder,” which evokes a mind/body dualism that is inconsistent with modern theories that emphasize the biopsychosocial origins of disease (Fulford, Thornton, & Graham 2006). The term “psychological disorder” is broad, encompassing both disorders that...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References and Readings
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, Fourth Edition, Text revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. See also http://www.psych.org/mainmenu/research/dsmiv.aspx
American Psychiatric Association. (2011). DSM-5 Development Page. Retrieved from http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx
Bienvenu, O. J., Davydow, D. S., & Kendler, K. S. (2011). Psychiatric ‘diseases’ versus behavioral disorders and degree of genetic influence. Psychological Medicine, 41, 33–40.
Fulford, K. W. M., Thornton, T., & Graham, G. (2006). Oxford textbook of philosophy and psychiatry. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kendler, K. S. (2009). An historical framework for psychiatric nosology. Psychological Medicine, 39, 1935–1941.
Ladwig, K. H., Baumert, J., Marten-Mittag, B., Kolb, C., Zrenner, B., & Schmitt, C. (2008). Posttraumatic stress symptoms and predicted mortality in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators: results from the prospective living with an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65, 1324–1330.
McHugh, P. R., & Slavney, P. R. (1998). The Perspectives of Psychiatry, 2nd ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Raskin, J. D., & Lewandowski, A. M. (2000). The construction of disorder as human enterprise. In R. A. Neimeyer & J. D. Raskin (Eds.), Constructions of disorder: Meaning-making frameworks for psychotherapy (pp. 15–40). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Stein, D. J., Phillips, K. A., Bolton, D., Fulford, K. W. M., Sadler, J. Z., & Kendler, K. S. (2010). What is a mental/psychiatric disorder? From DSM-IV to DSM-V. Psychological Medicine, 40, 1759–1765.
World Health Organization. (2007). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th Revision, version for 2007. Retrieved January 1, 2011 from http://apps.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online/
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media, New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Holmqvist, M. (2013). Psychological Disorder. In: Gellman, M.D., Turner, J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_1173
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_1173
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1004-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1005-9
eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine