Medical condition
A
medical condition is a broad term that includes all diseases,
lesions, disorders, or nonpathologic condition that normally receives medical treatment, such as
pregnancy or
childbirth. While the term
medical condition generally includes mental illnesses, in some contexts the term is used specifically to denote any illness, injury, or disease except for mental illnesses. The
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the widely used psychiatric manual that defines all
mental disorders, uses the term
general medical condition to refer to all diseases, illnesses, and injuries except for
mental disorders.
[14] This usage is also commonly seen in the psychiatric literature. Some
health insurance policies also define a
medical condition as any illness, injury, or disease except for psychiatric illnesses.
[15] As it is more
value-neutral than terms like
disease, the term
medical condition is sometimes preferred by people with health issues that they do not consider deleterious. On the other hand, by emphasizing the medical nature of the condition, this term is sometimes rejected, such as by proponents of the
autism rights movement. The term
medical condition is also a synonym for
medical state, in which case it describes an individual patient's current state from a medical standpoint. This usage appears in statements that describe a patient as being
in critical condition, for example.