The history of classifying mental disorders began with a man named Emil Kraepelin. He studied medicine at the University of Munich, where he earned his degree. After working for two years in a hospital, he became interested in studying mental illnesses, especially those with hallucinations. In 1886, he published an article about his observations of patients with what we would call schizophrenia today. The next year, he published another paper describing similar cases. At the same time, he began writing down what he saw in order to establish a comprehensive database of mental illness. By 1890, he had written enough notes to publish a book called Maniases de l’esprit (Manifestations of the Mind), which described the symptoms of various mental illnesses. His system of categorization was simple and practical. Mental conditions were classified into three groups: dementia praecox, manic depressive insanity, and neuroses.
The two most widely utilized references currently are the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICSD) made by the World Health Organization. In spite of the DSM and ICD being developed and published decades ago, they continue to be referenced today because they remain the only readily available standards for diagnosing mental disorders. Interestingly, both refer to mental disorders rather than illnesses, and definitions in law lag behind other means of classification.
Classified mental disorders include:
- Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders
- Bipolar and related disorders
- Depressive disorders
- Anxiety disorders
- Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders
- Trauma- and stressor-related disorders
- Dissociative disorders
- Somatic symptom disorders
- Feeding and eating disorders
- Elimination disorders
- Sleep-wake disorders
- Sexual dysfunctions
- Gender dysphoria
- Disruptive, impulse control and conduct disorders
- Substance use and addictive disorders
- Neurocognitive disorders
- Personality disorders
- Paraphilic disorders
- Other disorders
