Putting Humpty Together Again: Treatment of Mental Disorder and Pursuit of Justice as Parts of Social Work’s Mission

It must be admitted that most psychotherapeutic practices include not only disordered patients but also many people who, partly because of internal psychological impediments that are not disorders, are having difficulty func-tioning adequately in their social roles (as noted earlier, DSM criteria are overinclusive and cannot be used as a guide to mental disorder). So, in dayto-day practice there is only a fuzzy distinction between psychotherapists who treat mental disorders and clinical social workers who use psychother-apeutic methods to pursue social work’s goals. But there is an important conceptual distinction nonetheless.