Defining mental disorder. Exploring the 'natural function' approach
Open accessAbstract
Due to several socio-political factors, to many psychiatrists only a strictly objective definition of mental disorder, free of value components, seems really acceptable. In this paper, I will explore a variant of such an objectivist approach to defining metal disorder, natural function objectivism. Proponents of this approach make recourse to the notion of natural function in order to reach a value-free definition of mental disorder. The exploration of Christopher Boorse's 'biostatistical' account of natural function (1) will be followed an investigation of the 'hybrid naturalism' approach to natural functions by Jerome Wakefield (2). In the third part, I will explore two proposals that call into question the whole attempt to define mental disorder (3). I will conclude that while 'natural function objectivism' accounts fail to provide the backdrop for a reliable definition of mental disorder, there is no compelling reason to conclude that a definition cannot be achieved.
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Skepticism around the clinical utility of syndromal diagnoses is not unique to ENTS.
“Skepticism around the clinical utility of syndromal diagnoses is not unique to ENTS.”
From Psychological Treatment of Exhaustion Due to Persistent Non-Traumatic Stress: A Scoping Review. (2024) · cites this paper as [114]
In the Introduction’s discussion of psychopharmacological taxonomy (page unavailable), Varga questions whether a proposed way of classifying mental disorders is reliable and coherent. That supports the broader point that skepticism about psychiatric classification exists outside ENTS, but the paper does not specifically assess the clinical utility of syndromal diagnoses. (LLM, conf=0.77)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMental health professionals and researchers have long debated the most effective ways to define and classify mental disorders.
“Mental health professionals and researchers have long debated the most effective ways to define and classify mental disorders [114].”
From Psychological Treatment of Exhaustion Due to Persistent Non-Traumatic Stress: A Scoping Review. (2024) · cites this paper as [114]
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Петретто, Д. Р., Mura, A., Carrogu, G. P., Gaviano, L., Atzori, R., & Vacca, M. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1545341 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“…2005; Horwitz, 2007, 2017; Schwartz, 2007a,b, 2017; Boysen, 2008; First and Frances, 2008; First and Wakefield, 2010; Stein et al., 2010, 2021; Varga, 2011; Malón, 2012; Pierre, 2012; Jacobs, 2013; Schramme, 2013; Stier, 2013; Ulrich, 2014; Singh and Sinnott-Armstrong, 2015; Troisi, 2015;…”
Contemporary Artists’ Books and the Intimate Aesthetics of Illness
Bolaki, S. (2019) · Journal of Medical Humanities · doi:10.1007/s10912-019-09596-4 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Guardascione, A. (2024) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515089.2024.2350489 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“As Varga writes, for these positions “Value-dependent evaluations are not important to settle the issue whether something is dysfunctional” (2011, p. 9).”
First-person experience and yoga research: studying neural correlates of an intentional practice
Solomonova, E. (2015) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00085 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Kanagasingam, D., Norman, M. E., & Clarke, L. H. (2021) · Journal of Critical Realism · doi:10.1080/14767430.2021.1992733 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Reconceptualizar los trastornos de personalidad
Becerra, D. (2022) · Culturas Científicas · doi:10.35588/cc.v3i2.5831 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
The matching problem for evolutionary psychiatry
Maung, H. H. (2024) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515089.2024.2354437 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“An example of a non-adaptationist hypothesis is offered by Somogy Varga (2011), who suggests that the psychological mechanisms involved in mental disorders may have been adaptively neutral byproducts of evolved structures.”
Why the mental disorder concept matters
Kecmanović, D. (2011) · PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Haltaufderheide, J., Persson, K., Otte, I. C., & Vollmann, J. (2019) · Ethik in der Medizin · doi:10.1007/s00481-019-00527-4 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“…Tiermedizin, Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland K rekurriert, das versucht, sowohl funktionalistische als auch sozialwissenschaftliche Theorieelemente zu verbinden, und dessen normative Bezugspunkte Gegenstand erregter Debatten sind (Sisti et al. 2013; Varga 2011).”
BackgroundBoorse et les antipsychiatres : même combat?
Gagné‐Julien, A. (2019) · Dialogue · doi:10.1017/s0012217319000209 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“La BST est une théorie complexe, qui a été largement critiquée et commentée (voir par exemple Agich, 1983; Cooper, 2005; DeVito, 2000; Ereshefsky, 2009; Fulford, 2001; Kingma, 2007; Varga, 2011).”
BackgroundHaltaufderheide, J., Persson, K., Otte, I. C., & Vollmann, J. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-30828-5_44 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Mercante, M. S. (2013) · Saúde & Transformação Social / Health & Social Change
Fostering Democratic Practices in the Classroom
Baker, U. (2016) · SensePublishers eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-6300-723-8_8
Current Conceptual Models of Mental Disorder
Nielsen, K. (2023) · Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-29164-7_2
Review of Jonathan Y. Tsou’s Philosophy of Psychiatry
Maung, H. H. (2023) · Philosophy of Medicine · doi:10.5195/pom.2023.152
DEFECTS IN TRANSACTION CAPACITY AND PROBLEMS IN ITS DETERMINATION
Usmonova, M. (2023) · Review of Law Sciences · doi:10.51788/tsul.rols.2023.7.2./lqnz3050
Karhausen, L. (2023) · Philosophy and medicine · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-41633-0_7
ROLE OF BIOINFORMATICS IN MENTAL HEALTH
Garg, S. (2024) · International Journal of Biology Pharmacy and Allied Sciences · doi:10.31032/ijbpas/2024/13.2.7763
Elleker, D., & O’Neill, M. L. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-17299-1_2303
Pérez, J. I. (2024) · Quién : · doi:10.69873/aep.i20.279
Regulative Dispositionalism: Toward a Metaphysics of Mental Disorder
Castro, V. F. (2025) · Synthese Library/Synthese library · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-82221-6_5
WHO’s Definition of Health: Philosophical Analysis
Bickenbach, J. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-017-8706-2_48-2
WHO’s Definition of Health: Philosophical Analysis
Bickenbach, J. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-024-2252-8_48
Why Public Health Is Not About Public Goods
Savić, L. (2025) · Public Health Ethics · doi:10.1093/phe/phaf023
“On a widely endorsed naturalistic understanding, health is simply equated with normal species functioning (Boorse, 1997; Varga, 2011).”
Concepto de Desorden Mental: Imprecisión y dificultades.
Rey, F. R. (2011) · Psiquiatria.com
- Authors
- Varga, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Varga, Somogy
- ORCID
- Varga, Somogy
- Venue
- Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine
- Published
- 2011
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1
- ISSN
- 1747-5341 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3031189
- OpenAlex
- W2147319679
- Cited by
- 79
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 41.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Philosophy Ethics and Humanities in Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Medicine, History, and Philosophy
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
- Keywords
- mental illness, definition of mental disorder, natural functions, Christopher Boorse
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Humans, Philosophy, Medical, Social Environment, Social Values
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