Somatoform Disorder Classification Essay

ICD classification of somatoform disorders
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) started as a list of causes of death but the sixth edition started including diseases and injuries. The ICD-6 mentioned psychoneuroses with somatic symptoms and psychoneuroses without anxiety which included hysteria. This was later modified to psychoneuroses with somatic symptoms affecting other systems in ICD-7. The term hysteria was retained in ICD-8[23] and ICD-9[24]. The term somatoform disorder was introduced in the ICD-10[25]. Dissociative and conversion disorders were clubbed under a different category.
The ICD-10 diagnostic guidelines differed from those in DSM-IV somatoform disorders in many ways. The symptom threshold was reduced for somatization disorder by including ‘multiple and variable unexplained symptoms representing at

In the same diagnostic system, the term “somatic symptoms” has unrelated different connotations. During discussions of the ICD-11 working group, the term somatoform was considered stigmatizing and poorly understood by the persons suffering from that condition. The term bodily distress in that way is better than DSM-5 somatic symptom disorders because this terminology improves the communication not only between physicians but also between the physician and patient. Psychiatrists in the WPA-WHO global survey considered communication the most important purpose of diagnostic classifications. Additionally, the survey also showed that somatoform disorders had a low ease of use or goodness of fit in day-to-day clinical practice.[29] This terminology, bodily distress disorder, also gives the advantage to the physician to inform treatment and management decisions. For example, the 'distress' of bodily symptoms needs to be evaluated, investigated and