Right. If the genes were giving the snail sores, we'd call it a virus. Perception is reality
I recall a definition of mental illness that requires it to have a negative impact on the person.
A mutation may be adaptive or maladaptive. It depends on the creature as a whole - and also the current environment.
That environment is analogous to the market part of "product+market" for a startup: the identical technology/product can be a winner or a loser, depending on extra-product factors.