What is the difference between disease and disorder?

The terms “disease” and “disorder” are often used interchangeably. But is there actually a difference? read more

• The word disease is normally used in the sense of sickness or illness. • On the other hand, according to the Oxford English dictionary, the word disorder is used in the sense of ‘an illness that disrupts normal physical or mental functions’. read more

A disease is a definite morbid process, often with a characteristic train of symptoms. Disorder is an abnormality or derangement. read more

The reason for the vague replies and even the dictionary ambivalence about the difference between disorder and disease is that one (disease) is a definition of a concrete clinically verifiable pathology (i.e., liver disease, etc.), whereas the other (disorder) is a taxonomic classification (primary psychiatric disorder ala DSM4-5) that might be"not even wrong" (as Wolfgang Pauli might say). read more