Physical disorder

Physical disorder

A physical disorder (as a medical term) is often used as a term in contrast to a mental disorder, in an attempt to differentiate medical disorders which have an available objective mechanical test (such as chemical tests or brain scans), from those disorders which have no objective laboratory or imaging test, and are diagnosed only by behavioral syndrome (such as those in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM manual. Most familiarly, this is a term used as opposed to supposed "purely" mental disorders.

Differentiating "physical" from "mental" disorders is a difficult problem in both medicine and law, most notably because it delves into deep issues, and very old and unresolved arguments in philosophy and religion. Many materialists believe that all mental disorders are physical disorders of some kind, even if tests for them have not yet been developed (and it has been the case that some disorders once widely thought to be purely mental, are known to have physical origins, such as schizophrenia). Some psychiatrists take the position that some or all mental disorders may be seen analogously to the information level of programming in a computer. In this case, all such disorders are "associated" with physical changes in the brain, but the "pathology" is at the level of brain information and programming (software), which is fundamentally separate from the means to store it. [Note, even the computer industry regards software and hardware as areas with fuzzy boundaries] .

Finally, a number of religious and metaphysical views see many mental disorders as "completely" different from physical disorders, having nothing whatsoever to do with the physical-chemical processes in the brain, except as the brain provides a conduit for mental actions and thoughts to be transmitted from the human spirit to the physical world.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Disorder (medicine) — In medicine, a disorder is a functional abnormality or disturbance. [ [http://www.emedicine.com/asp/dictionary.asp?keyword=disorder eMedicine/Stedman Medical Dictionary Lookup! ] ] In many cases, the terms disorder , disease and illness are used… …   Wikipedia

  • Physical dependence — refers to a state resulting from chronic use of a drug that has produced tolerance and where negative physical symptoms[1] of withdrawal result from abrupt discontinuation or dosage reduction.[2] Physical dependence can develop from low dose… …   Wikipedia

  • disorder — I (abnormal condition) noun affliction, ailment, complaint, condition, disability, disease, distemper, handicap, illness, indisposition, infirmity, malady, malfunction, sickness II (lack of order) noun anarchism, anarchy, breach of peace, chaos,… …   Law dictionary

  • disorder — ► NOUN 1) a lack of order; confusion. 2) the disruption of peaceful and law abiding behaviour. 3) Medicine a disruption of normal physical or mental functions. ► VERB ▪ bring disorder to …   English terms dictionary

  • physical science, principles of — Introduction       the procedures and concepts employed by those who study the inorganic world.        physical science, like all the natural sciences, is concerned with describing and relating to one another those experiences of the surrounding… …   Universalium

  • disorder — A disturbance of function, structure, or both, resulting from a genetic or embryonic failure in development or from exogenous factors such as poison, trauma, or disease. adjustmen …   Medical dictionary

  • disorder — /dis awr deuhr/, n. 1. lack of order or regular arrangement; confusion: Your room is in utter disorder. 2. an irregularity: a disorder in legal proceedings. 3. breach of order; disorderly conduct; public disturbance. 4. a disturbance in physical… …   Universalium

  • disorder — noun 1 untidy state; lack of order ADJECTIVE ▪ complete VERB + DISORDER ▪ throw sth into ▪ The country was thrown into disorder by the strikes. PREPOSITION ▪ …   Collocations dictionary

  • Physical therapy — Infobox Disease Name = Physical therapy Caption = This physical therapist is assisting two children with polio holding on to a rail whilst they exercise their lower limbs. Physical therapy, also known as Physiotherapy in many English speaking… …   Wikipedia

  • disorder — dis|or|der W3 [dısˈo:də US ˈo:rdər] n 1.) medical a mental or physical illness which prevents part of your body from working properly a disorder of the brain/liver/digestive system etc ▪ He suffers from a rare disorder of the liver. a… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”