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Basics

The DSM-5 defines mental illness/disorder (paraphrased) as: characterized by significant dysfunction in an individual's cognitions, emotions, or behaviors that reflects a disturbance in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. A mental disorder is not merely an expectable or culturally sanctioned response to a specific event, such as the death of a loved one. The deviation from the norm is not political, religious, or sexual, but results from dysfunction in the individual (APA 2013).