mental disease mental health condition A disease which is a disposition to undergo pathological mental processes. http://www.jbiomedsem.com/content/1/1/10 The Mental Disease ontology follows the strategy of the Ontology of General Medical Science in distinguishing mental disease, mental disorder, diagnosis of mental disease, mental disease course and pathological mental process as separately distinguishable entities. Here is a quick guide to how these terms are used in this ontology. A mental disease is an underlying disposition to pathological mental processes. A mental disease course is the sum of the pathological mental processes that are caused by the underlying disease. A pathological mental process is a pathological process caused by a mental disease. A mental disorder is a physical disorder, for example, dysfunctional neurotransmitter receptors, altered brain connectivity, missing or damaged brain parts etc. The disorder is the material basis for the disease and it is by virtue of the disorder that the disease causes the pathological processes that form part of the disease course. A diagnosis of a mental disease is a clinician's statement that a patient has a mental disease by virtue of observable manifestations of that disease, such as behaviour, observable aspects of the underlying disorder, or self-reported experiences. disease