Disorder (medicine)

## Overview

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In medicine, a disorder is a functional abnormality or disturbance.[1][2]

In many cases, the terms "disorder", "disease" and "illness" are used interchangeably.[3] However, the term "disorder" is often considered more value-neutral than the term "disease", and is preferred by some patients with these conditions.[citation needed]

Medical disorders can be categorized into mental disorders or physical disorders. Mental disorder is the far more common term and physical disorder is mostly used just for distinction purposes.

## References

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1. ↑ Template:Dorlands
2. ↑ eMedicine/Stedman Medical Dictionary Lookup!
3. ↑ Mental Illness—Glossary

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