A Companion to the Classification of Mental Disorders

by John E. Cooper, Norman Sartorius

Overview

A Companion to the Classification of Mental Disorders provides essential reading as a background and supplement to both the recently produced DSM-5 and the forthcoming ICD-11. It focuses on the processes of classification and diagnosis, and the uses for these classifications. The book emphasises the dangers of regarding any current psychiatric classification as true or complete, in view of the present partial state of knowledge about the causes and mechanisms of most mental and behavioural disorders.
This book is unique in containing a number of chapters that give a brief history of the cooperative efforts and projects necessary for the production of internationally agreed psychiatric classifications. The discussion begins in 1965 with the US/UK Diagnostic study, the preparations for ICD-8 with its first international glossary, and the International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia, designed and coordinated by the World Health Organization. While recognizing the importance of the innovations of the DSM series of classifications of the American Psychiatric Association, the book also takes a truly international perspective. The expert authors are well placed to do this, having been personally involved in many of the collaborative studies and developments discussed.
A Companion to the Classification of Mental Disorders is an illustration of how much international collaborative work has been necessary over several decades to produce the currently agreed classifications. There is still a long way to go, but a start has been made.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199669493
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/01/2013
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	8.55(w) x 5.51(h) x 0.35(d)

About the Author

John E. Cooper, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham, UK,Norman Sartorius, Former Head of Mental Health, World Heath Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

Professor Cooper graduated from Oxford University (Lincoln College), and completed his clinical training at UCH London and postgraduate psychiatric training at Royal Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals and Institute of Psychiatry, London, where he was leader of the UK team of the US/UK Diagnostic Project. Subsequent posts include consultant psychiatrist at Royal Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals and vice-dean of Institute of Psychiatry; Foundation Professor of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham Medical School (1972-1991). In all clinical work, John Cooper has been interested in development of close relationships between hospital psychiatry and psychiatry in primary care. Prof. Cooper was Consultant advisor to WHO in the development of ICD-8, ICD-9, and ICD-10, participant in WHO studies on schizophrenia, and WHO consultant on development of mental health services in United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Norman Sartorius was Director of the World Health Organization's mental health programme from 1977 - 1993, President of the World Psychiatric Association from 1993 - 1999 and has been President of the European Psychiatric Association since 1999. Dr Sartorius holds professorial appointments at the Universities of London, Prague and Zagreb and is Senior Associate of Faculty at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Dr Sartorius is among the world's leading authorities on fighting stigma, co-morbidity of mental and physical illness, public health aspects of psychiatry and psychiatric education

Table of Contents

1. Problems before agreed psychiatric classifications were available2. First steps towards international agreement on diagnosis and classification3. Large-scale collaborative studies on diagnosis4. Developments in the USA5. The first internationally understandable epidemiological studies6. Large community-based diagnostic studies in the USA7. Other large community-based diagnostic surveys8. Some problems with research methods used in psychiatric surveys9. Translation and use of interviewing schedules in more than one language and culture10. Towards international agreement on classification11. Communication between different health care professions12. Understanding classification13. Special problems for psychiatric classification14. Diagnosis in psychiatry15. Classification beyond the diagnosis16. Multi-axial classification17. Psychiatric classification in an international perspective18. Using a psychiatric classification19. The future

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Michael Schrift, DO (University of Washington School of Medicine)
Description: There are many problems as well as uses for classification schemes in psychiatry. As the authors of this important book rightly point out, there are essential differences between "disease," "illness," and "sickness." In disease, there is a known abnormal physical or physiological cause for the patient's symptoms, whereas "illness" is what the patient experiences whether or not there is any understandable physical cause of the symptom, and sickness connotes the social consequences of the symptom. Unfortunately, in psychiatry we do not, as of yet, have definable diseases. Current psychiatric classification is essentially just behavioral descriptions analogous to the classification of animals prior to Darwin — a whale would have been considered a fish! This essential book covers the pros and cons of classification of mental illness in a concise yet thorough manner. Written and edited by internationally recognized experts in the field, it is a welcome addition to psychiatry.
Purpose: The purpose, according to the authors, "is to understand how these classifications (ICD-10 and DSM-IV) have been developed and to appreciate that they have both benefits and limitations..." The authors have produced a vital book for understanding the background of psychiatric classification.
Audience: The intended audience includes "all mental health professionals" as well those studying for the membership exam of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the U.K., and the board examinations for psychiatry in the U.S.
Features: This concise book (138 pages) begins with the hazards of not having psychiatric classifications and then goes on to describe the history of international agreement on diagnosis and classification. The large-scale collaborative studies are reviewed followed by the development of the DSMs in the U.S. Problems with research methods used in diagnostic surveys are the focus of chapter 8. The issues of what a diagnosis is, the dimensional approach, and lumpers and splitters are discussed in chapter 14. Multiaxial classification and its history are discussed in chapter 16. How to use psychiatric classification and the future of classification are discussed toward the end. The six appendixes contain useful information such as the results of the U.S./U.K. Diagnostic Project and the meta effects of classifying mental disorders. The references are pertinent and timely.
Assessment: This crucial book focuses on a pivotal issue for the future of psychiatry as a medical discipline. Anyone interested in placing psychiatry on a scientific foundation needs to read this book — it is a fascinating read.

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