ABSTRACT
I state an obvious fact. The task of describing the conceptual make-up of the category of mental disorder is truly daunting.
Mental disorder is such a big and varied category of states and conditions. How can one meaningfully decide what mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, delusional disorders, impulse control disorders, etc., have in common? But this chapter aims to give the task a try. Or more exactly: it aims to begin the task. The chapter is about how to construct a sound and sensible concept of mental disorder. Not just of disorder or of the reference of the term ‘mental’ in ‘mental disorder’, but of the category mental disorder itself. This chapter helps to set the stage for the theory of mental disorder to be constructed and applied in the rest of the book.
