Boyce: “Disease” Versus “Disorder”
Around 400 B.C., the Greek physician Hippocrates treated the mentally ill as not having a disorder, but a disease. Though mental illnesses plagued humanity well before diagnosis and record-keeping, their stigma may be rooted in the misconception that symptoms and behaviors are a matter of one’s choosing. This misconception colors the manner in which patients with psychiatric illnesses are treated. For centuries, many afflicted patients have come to be categorized as having mental disorders rather than medical diseases — a difference that may greatly influence the stigma these patients face in the general population as well by some medical practitioners.