Psychiatric Disability

Psychiatric Disability is the consequence and impact of a mental illness on the affected person’s ability to function and is a term used in the Australian Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Psychiatric disability may be intermittent and associated with symptoms of schizophrenia, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, addictive behaviours, personality disorders, stress, psychosis, depression and adjustment disorders. The Commission, however, prefers the term psychosocial disability to describe the type of disability as it affects the daily functioning of a person and to recognise the broader social disadvantage and effects of mental illness on people.