Skip to main content
NCBI home page
World Psychiatry logoLink to World Psychiatry
. 2013 Mar 7;12(1):87–88. doi: 10.1002/wps.20024

WPA partnership with the World Health Organization in the development of the ICD-11 chapter on mental disorders

Paola Bucci 1
PMCID: PMC3619180  PMID: 23509028

The development of the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is ongoing, and the diagnostic system is expected to be published in the year 2015. The WPA is supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) in the production of the chapter on mental disorders.

The WPA Past-President, M. Maj, is a member of the International Advisory Group for the ICD-10 revision and the chairperson of the Working Group on Mood and Anxiety Disorders. Several WPA officers or experts have been appointed as chairpersons or members of ICD-11 Working Groups. The chairpersons include W. Gaebel (Working Group on Psychotic Disorders), P. Tyrer (Working Group on Personality Disorders), L. Salvador-Carulla (Working Group on Intellectual Disabilities), O. Gureje (Working Group on Somatic Distress and Dissociative Disorders), and D. Stein (Working Group on Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders).

The WPA Member Societies participated in the WPA-WHO Global Survey of Psychiatrists' Attitudes Towards Mental Disorders Classification 1. This survey collected information from 4887 psychiatrists concerning their regular use of a formal classification system, the classification system most used, and the number of diagnostic categories desired, and their views on the most important purposes of classification, the use of strict criteria versus flexible guidance, how to incorporate severity and functional status in a classification of mental disorders, the utility of a dimensional component, the cultural applicability of current classifications, and the ease of use and the goodness of fit of ICD-10 diagnostic categories. The results of this survey are being used to improve the clinical utility of the ICD-11 chapter on mental disorders.

Several WPA Member Societies and experts are being or will be involved in ICD-11 field trials and in the various translations/adaptations of the diagnostic system. The WPA is actively contributing to the process of harmonization between the ICD-11 and the DSM-5.

Within the frame of the 15th World Congress of Psychiatry, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in September 2011, several sessions related to the ICD-11 development took place, including a Special Symposium entitled “Developing the ICD-11 classification of mental disorders: field studies and global perspectives”, with the participation of G. Reed, the WHO officer in charge of the process.

World Psychiatry is one of the main channels through which the international psychiatric community is being updated about the ICD-11 development. A special article authored by the ICD-11 International Advisory Group, summarizing the philosophy of the entire process, has been published in the journal 2, as well as the first report of the Working Group on Intellectual Disabilities 3 and a review of evidence and proposals for the ICD-11 classification of feeding and eating disorders 4. Several papers produced by the Working Group on Mood and Anxiety Disorders have been collected in a special supplement to the journal 5. Many relevant contributions have appeared in recent issues of the journal 6–25. All the above articles are available on the WPA website (http://www.wpanet.org).

References

  • 1.Reed GM, Mendonça Correia J, Esparza P, et al. The WPA-WHO Global Survey of Psychiatrists' Attitudes Towards Mental Disorders Classification. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:118–31. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00034.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.International Advisory Group for the Revision of ICD-10 Mental and Behavioural Disorders. A conceptual framework for the revision of the ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:86–92. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00022.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Salvador-Carulla L, Reed GM, Vaez-Azizi LM. Intellectual developmental disorders: towards a new name, definition and framework for “mental retardation/intellectual disability” in ICD-11. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:175–80. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00045.x. at al. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Uher R, Rutter M. Classification of feeding and eating disorders: review of evidence and proposals for ICD-11. World Psychiatry. 2012;11:80–92. doi: 10.1016/j.wpsyc.2012.05.005. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 5.Maj M, Reed GM, editors. The ICD-11 classification of mood and anxiety disorders: background and options. World Psychiatry. 2012;11(Suppl.1) [Google Scholar]
  • 6.Maj M. Psychiatric diagnosis: pros and cons of prototypes vs. operational criteria. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:81–2. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00019.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 7.Widiger TA. Personality and psychopathology. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:103–6. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00024.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 8.Strakowski SM, Fleck DE, Maj M. Broadening the diagnosis of bipolar disorder: benefits vs. risks. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:181–6. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00046.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 9.Goldberg D. The heterogeneity of “major depression”. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:226–8. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00061.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 10.Casey P, Bailey S. Adjustment disorders: the state of the art. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:11–8. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00003.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 11.Owen MJ. Is there a schizophrenia to diagnose? World Psychiatry. 2011;10:34–5. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00007.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 12.Millon T. Further thoughts on the relation of personality and psychopathology. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:107–8. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00025.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 13.Links PS. Personality and psychopathology: the dangers of premature closure. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:109–10. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00027.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 14.Torgersen S. Personality may be psychopathology, and vice versa. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:112–3. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00030.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 15.Zimmerman M. Broadening the concept of bipolar disorder: what should be done in the face of uncertainty? World Psychiatry. 2011;10:188–9. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00048.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 16.Frank E. Bipolar spectrum: has its time come? World Psychiatry. 2011;10:193–4. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00052.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 17.Carlson GA. Broadening bipolar disorder – by design or by accident? World Psychiatry. 2011;10:195–6. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00053.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 18.Maj M. Bereavement-related depression in the DSM-5 and ICD-11. World Psychiatry. 2012;11:1–2. doi: 10.1016/j.wpsyc.2012.01.001. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 19.Wakefield JC, First MB. Validity of the bereavement exclusion to major depression: does the empirical evidence support the proposal to eliminate the exclusion in DSM-5? World Psychiatry. 2012;11:3–10. doi: 10.1016/j.wpsyc.2012.01.002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 20.Westen D. Prototype diagnosis of psychiatric syndromes. World Psychiatry. 2012;11:16–21. doi: 10.1016/j.wpsyc.2012.01.004. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 21.Parnas J. The core Gestalt of schizophrenia. World Psychiatry. 2012;11:67–9. doi: 10.1016/j.wpsyc.2012.05.002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 22.Carlson GA. Differential diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents. World Psychiatry. 2012;11:46–52. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2012.tb00115.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 23.Westen D, Malone JC, DeFife JA. An empirically derived approach to the classification and diagnosis of mood disorders. World Psychiatry. 2012;11:172–80. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2012.tb00127.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 24.First MB. A practical prototypic system for psychiatric diagnosis: the ICD-11 Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines. World Psychiatry. 2012;11:24–5. doi: 10.1016/j.wpsyc.2012.01.022. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 25.Jablensky A. Prototypes, syndromes and dimensions of psychopathology: an open agenda for research. World Psychiatry. 2012;11:22–3. doi: 10.1016/j.wpsyc.2012.01.020. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from World Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of The World Psychiatric Association

RESOURCES