I'm just going to drop a link to a short essay on what exactly constitutes a disease: http://lesswrong.com/lw/2as/diseased_thinking_dissolving_questions_about/

I'm just going to drop a link to a short essay on what exactly constitutes a disease: http://lesswrong.com/lw/2as/diseased_thinking_dissolving_questions_about/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/2as/diseased_thinking_dissolving_que... > Summary > > People commonly debate whether social and mental > conditions are real diseases. This masquerades as a > medical question, but its implications are mainly social > and ethical. We use the concept of disease to decide who > gets sympathy, who gets blame, and who gets treatment. > > Instead of continuing the fruitless "disease" argument, > we should address these questions directly. Taking a > determinist consequentialist position allows us to do so > more effectively. We should blame and stigmatize people > for conditions where blame and stigma are the most useful > methods for curing or preventing the condition, and we > should allow patients to seek treatment whenever it is > available and effective.