The Forums › Forums › What is it? › The History › Why is it labeled a "disorder" instead of a "mental illness"? › Re: Why is it labeled a “disorder” instead of a “mental illness”?
An illness is something ‘abnormal’. Depression or an Anxiety Disorder is not normal. It’s an illness. So are many other issues, but some are things we are born with, how we are wired. Though there’s lots of debate on whether if the genes get turned on by the environment. We go into a lot of detail on this on the new video ‘What Is ADHD?’ which is part of the new production debuting on PBS in August, 2012.
ADHD is a syndrome, a collection of traits, issues, problems, behaviours. If it’s severe enough, you almost always are struggling, and probably wanting or even seeking help. It’s impacting your life in a negative way. Just as being shy isn’t an illness, and it’s not abnormal, but if it’s extreme, it’ll affect your life, and it would be good to know so you can make better choices about your life, your career, and who you want to hang with.
I think it’s something you ‘qualify’ as. Like, at some point you are ‘tall’ then ‘very tall.’ And if you’re ‘very tall’ it’ll impact your life, positively and negatively.
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