The language of mental illness

This chapter argues that the debate over the proper classification of mental illnesses is best understood as a debate in conceptual ethics. She identifies various interconnected interests that matter to the debate, including researchers looking for categories to set up experimental trials, clinicians, and service-users looking for useful categories for diagnoses and treatments as well as reassurance that certain experienced ailments are real and not something they should be blamed for. Exactly how to balance these often-conflicting considerations is a moral and political issue, not a purely scientific one.