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Psychology vocabulary · Mental Health Conditions

Mental disorder

Meaning in psychology, with examples

nounCore term

In psychology, mental disorder means: A clinically significant pattern of disturbance in thinking, emotion or behaviour that causes distress or problems in daily functioning, as defined in systems such as DSM-5 and ICD-11.

In Turkish: ruhsal bozukluk, psikolojik bozukluk, mental bozukluk

How it is used

The standard term in diagnostic manuals and research. Clinicians and many services also say mental health condition or mental illness. 'Mental disorder' sounds formal, so it appears more in writing than in conversations with clients.

Example sentences

  1. Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental disorders worldwide.

  2. A mental disorder is diagnosed only when the symptoms cause significant distress or impairment.

Common collocations

  • diagnose a mental disorder
  • common mental disorders
  • severe mental disorder
  • classify mental disorders
  • diagnosisThe process of identifying which mental or physical condition explains a person's difficulties, or the name of the condition that is identified.
  • DSM-5Short for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition: the American Psychiatric Association's classification of mental disorders and their diagnostic criteria.
  • mental healthA person's emotional, psychological and social well-being, which affects how they think, feel, handle stress and relate to others.
  • symptomA change in thinking, feeling, behaviour or the body that a person experiences and reports, and that may point to a health problem.

More terms: Mental Health Conditions

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