Diagnosis and classification of mental disorders and alcohol- and drug-related problems: a research agenda for the 1980s

Abstract

The development and promotion of a ‘common language’ in the mental health field is a lasting objective of the World Health Organization. In the 1960s, experts from 35 countries participated in the WHO programme on the standardization of psychiatric diagnosis, classification and statistics which reviewed the state of the field and resulted in the glossary of mental disorders, first produced as a companion to ICD-8 and later incorporated, with modifications, in Chapter V of ICD-9.