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What is a "mental disorder"?

By William Meek, About.com

Created: May 21, 2008

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Steven Gans, MD

Question: What is a "mental disorder"?
Answer: A mental disorder is a collection or pattern of symptoms that generally go together to make up a psychological experience that is not part of what is considered normal human functioning. There are a variety of classes of mental disorders (mood, anxiety, adjustment, eating, etc) that operate as a categorizing system for the individual disorders. Read more about the characteristics of generalized anxiety disorder here.
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