Psychiatric Diagnosis and Classification - ResearchGate

INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS 27
examples will inevitablyaccumulate to identifyparadoxes between the
appearance and the essence i.e. the underlying mechanisms).
The classification of mental disorders is built on observation of pathological
human behaviors. It identifies patterns of signs or symptoms that are
stable over time and across different cultural settings, and can be informed
bynew knowledge of the waythe mind and brain work. Such a classification
is a reflection of a) natural observable ``phenomena'', b) cultural ways
of understanding these, and c) the social context in which these experiences
occur. Since one of the major purposes of a diagnostic classification is to
help clinicians communicate with each other byidentifying patterns linked
to disability, interventions and outcomes, these classifications have often
evolved based on the ``sorting techniques'' that clinicians use. All psychiatric
classifications are therefore human tools intended for use within a
social system. Therefore, in thinking about the classification of mental disorders,
multiple factors need to be taken into account, simplybecause our
understanding of genetics, physiology, individual development, behavioral
patterns, interpersonal relations, familystructures, social changes, and cultural
factors all affect how we think about a classification. The twentieth
centuryhas been marked byseveral distinct phases in the waymental
phenomena and disorders have been understood. The determinism of psychoanalysis
and early behaviorism has been superseded by the logical
empiricism of biological psychiatry that is searching for the underpinnings
of human behavior in the brain in particular, and in human biologyin
general. Our current knowledge of mental disorders remains limited because
of the lack of disease-specific markers, and is largelybased on observation
of concurrent behavioral and psychological phenomena, on response
to pharmacological and other treatments and on some data on familial
aggregation of these elements. The task of creating an international classification
of mental disorders is, therefore, a verychallenging multiprofessional
and multicultural one that seeks to integrate a varietyof findings within a
unifying conceptual framework.
STRENGTHS OF ICD-10: A RELIABLE INTERNATIONAL
OPERATIONAL SYSTEM
The ICD is the result of an effort to create a universal diagnostic system that
began at an international statistical congress in 1891 with an agreement to
prepare a list of the causes of death for common international use. Subsequently,
periodic revisions took place and in 1948, when the World Health
Organization was formed, the sixth revision of the ICD was produced.
Member states since then have decided to use the ICD in their national
health statistics. The sixth revision of the ICD for the first time contained a