Mental Disorders Updated!

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) defines mental disorders as sustained patterns of symptoms that negatively affect a person's behavior, cognition, or emotional balance. The APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) notes that the presence of such symptoms may indicate an underlying biological, developmental, or psychological dysfunction. For a person's symptoms to be considered clinically significant, they must interfere with the person's academic, professional, or social activities to a substantial degree. The APA distinguishes between mental disorders and other phenomena that may feature symptoms characteristic of a mental disorder but are not the product of individual dysfunction. A person grieving the death of a loved one, for example, may exhibit symptoms of depression, but the cause of...