Monitor on Psychology - February 2012 - (Page 41)

With the help of psychologists, the next version of the International Classification of Diseases will have a more behavioral perspective. B Y R EB ECCA A. C LAY hat’s the world’s most widely used classification system for mental disorders? If you guessed the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), you would be wrong. According to a study of nearly 5,000 psychiatrists in 44 countries sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Psychiatric Association, more than 70 percent of the world’s psychiatrists use WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD) most in day-to-day practice while just 23 percent turn to the DSM. The same pattern is found among psychologists globally, according to preliminary results from a similar survey of international psychologists conducted by WHO and the International Union of Psychological Science. “The ICD is the global standard for health information,” says psychologist Geoffrey M. Reed, PhD, senior project officer in WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. “It’s developed as a tool for the public good; it’s not the property of a particular profession or particular professional organization.” Now WHO is revising the ICD, with the ICD-11 due to be approved in 2015. With unprecedented input from psychologists, the revised version’s section on mental and behavioral disorders is expected to be more psychologist-friendly than ever — something that’s especially welcome given concerns being raised about the DSM’s own ongoing revision process. (See article on page 42.) And coming changes in the United States will mean that psychologists will soon need to get as familiar with the ICD as their colleagues around the world. The iCD revision process Encompassing both mental and physical disorders, the ICD classification system assigns codes used for health statistics, reimbursement systems and other purposes. The current version, the ICD-10, was published in 1992. The ICD-11 will see major changes, predicts Reed, who is coordinating revisions to its mental and behavioral disorders section and participating in revisions to the section on nervous system diseases. That’s due in part to the fact that it’s not just psychiatrists revising the relevant sections anymore. For the first time, psychologists and other mental health professionals are also integrally involved (see “Defining disease worldwide,” June 2010 Monitor). The result, Reed predicts, is that the publication “will be written from a more behavioral perspective, not only from a medical perspective.” Psychologists from around the world are formally participating in the effort. Some are serving on the international advisory groups for the mental and behavioral disorders and diseases of the nervous system sections. Others are participating in working groups focused on specific W F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2 • M o n i t o r o n p s y c h o l o g y 41

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - February 2012

Monitor on Psychology - February 2012
Letters
President’s column
Contents
From the CEO
APA files two briefs in support of same-sex couples
New registry seeks to understand addiction recovery through ‘crowdsourcing’
APA launches a database of tests and measures
Watch for new member benefit: “APA Access”
Apply now for APA’s Advanced Training Institutes
PsycTHERAPY, APA’s new database, brings therapy demos to life
In Brief
APA scientists help guide tobacco regulation
A-mazing research
‘A machine for jumping to conclusions’
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
Righting the imbalance
The beginnings of mental illness
Science Directions
Improving disorder classification, worldwide
Protesting proposed changes to the DSM
Interventions for at-risk students
Harnessing the wisdom of the ages
Anti-bullying efforts ramp up
Hostile hallways
R U friends 4 real?
Support for teachers
Speaking of Education
Record keeping for practitioners
Going green
At the intersection of law and psychology
Division Spotlight
Grants help solve society’s problems
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - February 2012