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Physical disorder, as a medical term, is poorly defined, and typically used in contrast to a mental disorder or a genetic disorder. The term mental disorder is heavily used in psychiatric medicine , and is defined in some psychiatric medicine texts, most notably the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). [ 1 ]
The term medically unexplained symptoms is in some cases treated as synonymous to older terms such as psychosomatic symptoms, conversion disorders, somatic symptoms, somatisations or somatoform disorders; as well as contemporary terms such as functional disorders, bodily distress, and persistent physical symptoms. [6]
Classified as a "conversion disorder" by the DSM-IV, a psychogenic disease is a condition in which mental stressors cause physical symptoms matching other disorders. The manifestation of physical symptoms without biologically identifiable cause results from disruptions in normal brain function due to psychological stress.
A functional symptom is a medical symptom with no known physical cause. [1] In other words, there is no structural or pathologically defined disease to explain the symptom. The use of the term 'functional symptom' does not assume psychogenesis, only that the body is not functioning as expected. [2]
Medical disorders can be categorized into mental disorders, physical disorders, genetic disorders, emotional and behavioral disorders, and functional disorders. [13] The term disorder is often considered more value-neutral and less stigmatizing than the terms disease or illness, and therefore is preferred terminology in some circumstances. [14]
The term "psychogenic pain" has begun to fall out of relevance in the scientific community, due to its implication that the pain is entirely psychological in origin and thus not "real". [11] The change in preferred nomenclature can be traced to 1994 when the DSM-IV removed the term in favor of the more holistic "Pain Disorder" section. [4]
A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. [1] Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living , such as respiratory disorders , blindness , epilepsy [ 2 ] and sleep disorders .
The definition and classification of mental disorders are key issues for researchers as well as service providers and those who may be diagnosed. For a mental state to be classified as a disorder, it generally needs to cause dysfunction. [15] Most international clinical documents use the term mental "disorder", while "illness" is also common.