Mental Health Information
Mental vs. Medical Classifications:
There is always a question of whether a given disorder or issue would be better classified as a "mental" or a "medical-biological" disorder. To some degree or another, there is no really firm distinction between mental and medical disorders. Many so called 'mental' disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are now known to be primarily biologically based, while other 'medical' disorders have been shown to have a large 'psychological' component. In making classification decisions, we have followed the lead set out by the authors of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the standard reference used by psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers in classifying and describing mental disorders.

 

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Types of mental health problems
Despite the controversy surrounding the definitions and usefulness of the term 'mental illness', mental health problems today still remain largely in the province of psychiatry, and hence are usually discussed in medical terms.

Psychiatrists sub-divide the different kinds of mental health disorders in several different ways.

Organic (identifiable brain malfunction) versus Functional (not due to simple structural abnormalities of the brain).
Neurosis (severe forms of normal experiences) versus Psychosis (severe distortion of a person's perception of reality).
ICD-10 Classification, which lists major groups of disorders in related families e.g. mood disorders, which includes depression and manic depression.