As far as ADHD being a mental illness...it seems almost cruel to label attention deficit a mental illness.
Curious as to why CB. Because of the unwarranted strigma that is placed on mental illness?
I've struggled with that stigma with my schizophrenic step son. To me there should be no more cruelty attached to a dignosis of a physical illness of the brain than with one of the lungs or spine. In fact, mental illness with a physical cause should often have less stigma attached to it IMO than some other diseases, because schizophrenia and ADHD, for example, are seldom the result of bad choices whereas many lung, heart and other non-mental, physical illnesses are.
And since I'm disagreeing, might as well go whole hog.

Do PDs have in any real sense of the word a choice over what they do?
At one theoretical level they certainly do as they are human beings who can either do evil or do good when presented with a choice.
However are we sure that someone with a strong PD is any less ill simply because the root of their illness isn't organic?
Do they have any more choice to behave normally than a schizophrenic? I'm not sure they do. I do know they're mostly miserable people, wholly petrified with fear who, one would think, would choose to be not miserable, not petrified people if they could.
It's a tough question because, despite their illness, they do know good from evil; I've watched them calculate the diffence. But I'm coming around to accepting they may not be able to, in any real sense, choose the good. Makes me somewhat easier on them morally although I am still of the position that they should be held legally accountable whenever possible to make those they harm as whole as possible. Whatever the Ns level of choice, invariably their innocent victims had NO choice in being seriously harmed just by being within their orbits.
mud