1.    Many definitions of mental disorder, none are both accurate and complete.

2.    Nobody can define abnormal:

a.                 Unusual?  Gifted people are abnormal?

b.                 Discomfort?  Manic people are not uncomfortable.

3.    DSM-IV explanation:  

A mental disorder is a clinically important collection of symptoms (these can be behavioral or psychological) that causes an individual distress, disability, or the increased risk of suffering pain, disability, death, or the loss of freedom.

4.    Symptoms must be something more than an expected reaction to an everyday event such as the death of a relative.

5.    Behaviors that represent a conflict between an individual and a society (e.g., religious or political ideology) are not usually considered a mental disorder.

6.    Mental disorders describe disease processes, not people.

7.    No sharp boundary between disorders or between disorders and “normality.”

8.    No essential difference between physical disorders such as diabetes and mental disorders such as schizophrenia.