Psychology & Psychiatry - The Online Community: ICD-10

ICD-10 - Adjustment Disorders

Posted by Dr.K@meleon

[From World Health Organization. The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Diagnostic Criteria for Research. Copyright, World Health Organization, Geneva, 1993.] ...

Onset of symptoms must occur within 1 month of exposure to an identifiable psychosocial stressor, not of an unusual or catastrophic type.
The individual manifests symptoms or behavior disturbance of the types found in any of the affective disorders (except for delusions and hallucinations), any disorder in neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders, and conduct disorders, but the criteria for an individual disorder are not fulfilled. Symptoms may be variable in both form and severity.

The predominant feature of the symptoms may be further specified.
Brief depressive reaction
A transient mild depressive state of a duration not exceeding 1 month.
Prolonged depressive reaction
A mild depressive state occurring in response to a prolonged exposure to a stressful situation but of a duration not exceeding 2 years.
Mixed anxiety and depressive reaction
Both anxiety and depressive symptoms are prominent, but at levels no greater than those specified for mixed anxiety and depressive disorder or other mixed anxiety disorders.
With predominant disturbance of other emotions
The symptoms are usually of several types of emotions, such as anxiety, depression, worry, tensions, and anger. Symptoms of anxiety and depression may meet the criteria for mixed anxiety and depressive disorder or for other mixed anxiety disorders, but they are not so predominant that other more specific depressive or anxiety disorders can be diagnosed. This category should also be used for reactions in children in whom regressive behavior such as bed-wetting or thumb-sucking is also present.
With predominant disturbance of conduct
The main disturbance is one involving conduct, e.g., an adolescent grief reaction resulting in aggressive or dissocial behavior.
With mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct
Both emotional symptoms and disturbances of conduct are prominent features.
With other specified predominant symptoms

Except in prolonged depressive reaction, the symptoms do not persist for more than 6 months after the cessation of the stress or its consequences. However, this should not prevent a provisional diagnosis being made if this criterion is not yet fulfilled.