The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders

Provides clinical descriptions, diagnostic guidelines, and codes for all mental and behavioural disorders commonly encountered in clinical psychiatry. The book was developed from chapter V of the Tenth Revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). The clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines were finalized after field testing by over 700 clinicians and researchers in 110 institutes in 40 countries, making this book the product of the largest ever research effort designed to improve psychiatric diagnosis. Every effort has been made to define categories whose existence is scientifically justifiable as well as clinically useful. The classification divides disorders into ten groups according to major common themes or descriptive likeness, a new feature which makes for increased convenience of use. For each disorder, the book provides a full description of the main clinical features and all other important but less specific associated features. Diagnostic guidelines indicate the number, balance, and duration of symptoms usually required before a confident diagnosis can be made. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are also provided, together with conditions to be considered in differential diagnosis. The guidelines are worded so that a degree of flexibility is retained for diagnostic decisions in clinical work, particularly in the situation where provisional diagnosis may have to be made before the clinical picture is entirely clear or information is complete. "... As befitting a publication of considerable influence, the amount of work that went into preparing ICD-10 has been formidable..." - The International Journal of Social Psychiatry

Sets out internationally-agreed diagnostic criteria specifically designed for use when conducting research on mental and behavioural disorders. Deliberately restrictive, the criteria are intended to facilitate the selection of groups of individuals whose symptoms and other characteristics resemble each other in clearly stated ways, and thus to maximize the homogeneity of study groups and the comparability of findings in multicentre and international studies. The book, which covers over 300 disorders, is derived from chapter V(F) of the Tenth Revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). The research criteria were developed in collaboration with the world's leading experts and finalized after testing by researchers and clinicians in 32 countries, representing all the major traditions and schools of psychiatry. Descriptions of clinical concepts upon which the research criteria are based are contained in the companion volume, Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines. For each disorder, criteria are labelled with letters or numbers to indicate their place in a hierarchy of generality and importance. This hierarchy includes general criteria, which must be fulfilled by all members of a group of disorders, obligatory criteria for individual disorders, and further groups and sub-groups of characteristics, of which only some are required for the diagnosis. Where appropriate, the most commonly used exclusion clause is also listed. A number of disorders of uncertain or provisional status are described in two annexes. The first covers affective disorders that have been the subject of recent research, together with certain personality disorders. The second describes several disorders that seem to appear almost exclusively in particular cultures.