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mental disorder
any clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome characterized by distressing symptoms, significant impairment
of functioning, or significantly increased risk of death, pain, or other disability. Mental disorders are assumed to result
from some behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunction in the individual. The concept does not include deviant behavior,
disturbances that are essentially conflicts between the individual and society, or expected and culturally sanctioned responses
to particular events.
Copyright 2007. An Elsevier publication. All rights reserved.
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