Some mental illnesses and personality disorders are neurologically-based as opposed to psychosomatic, and some of those that are neurological can be medically and scientifically detected with CAT scans and other empirical, objectivem scientific instrumentation and methods just as, for example, the mental retardation of some individuals can. It is those conditions that can be proven medically and scientifically that must be separated from "disorders" defined by the pseudo-sciences of psychiatry and clinical psychology.
Neurologically-based issues are not considered mental illness. I went to reread a defintion, since I hadn't done so since university, to verify what I remembered and it specifically excluded anything caused by physical defects in the brain.
I didn't say neurologically-based issues ARE mental illness. Putting it another way, I said that some personality and mental disorders are the result of neurological pathology that can be demonstrated medically and scientifically.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which is the "rulebook" for diagnosing mental disorders, does include neurologically-based conditions such as mental retardation and senility (Alzheimer's is now considered one of that group of disorders). I think that's so for at least two reasons: the book is supposed to be comprehensive; and insurance companies use the DSM as a guide for paying claims. That is, if it isn't in the book, it isn't a "real" disorder—hence the escalation of conditions deemed disorders.
Commenting by HaloScan
