'Mental illness' is not the same as 'mental competence'. There's a movement today to get rid of the term 'mental' from 'mental illness' because illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder are diseases like diabetes and cancer - there's no reason to stigmatize them by putting them in a separate category. And then people won't equate 'illness' with 'competence'.
While I think that suicide bombers are not 'mentally competent' (that's not quite the right term either - I would say 'morally competent'), I don't think that the majority of them suffer from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
Re: Suicide Bombers, & Suicide
There's a movement today to get rid of the term 'mental' from 'mental illness' because illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder are diseases like diabetes and cancer - there's no reason to stigmatize them by putting them in a separate category. And then people won't equate 'illness' with 'competence'.
While I think that suicide bombers are not 'mentally competent' (that's not quite the right term either - I would say 'morally competent'), I don't think that the majority of them suffer from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.