Jinghong CHEN report

[Shanghai Arch Psychiatry. 2017; 29(6): 325-327. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11919/j.issn.1002-0829.217170]

The Meeting of the Field Studies Coordination Group and International Advisory Group for the Revision of ICD-10 Mental and Behavioral Disorders was held in Shanghai. The Chinese version of the ICD-11 is expected to be released next year. Mental health experts from China have been crucially involved in the revision of the ICD-11.

On November 7, 2017, a total of 32 experts from China, United States, Mexico, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Japan and other countries gathered in Shanghai and participated in the “Internationalization” meeting organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) Field Studies Coordination Group and International Advisory Group for the Revision of ICD-10 Mental and Behavioral Disorders to discuss and develop guidelines for the diagnosis of mental and behavioral disorders as given in the ICD-11.

The ICD is a disease classification manual issued by WHO, which is the diagnostic classification system widely used worldwide. Mental and Behavioral Disorders are listed in chapter V of ICD-10. The ICD is also the diagnostic system used in China in areas such as clinical, research, and health management work, as well as by the government and insurance companies.WHO is conducting field tests with the Chinese version of the ICD-11 due to be released in 2018. In conducting these field studies, WHO is making important revisions based on the clinical utility of disorders listed in the new version. Since Chinese experts will be crucially involved in this revision process, this opens the door to their further involvement in the overall revision of ICD-11. In fact, China’s experts were involved in the revision of ICD-10 and even going as far back as 1982 Shanghai Mental Health Center (SMHC) has been a WHO collaborating center. Now, as the only Field Studies Coordination Center for the Revision of ICD-10 Mental and Behavioral Disorders in China, SMHC will be responsible for the ICD-11 field studies and will be actively involved with other collaborating centers, social organizations and medical groups, laying the groundwork for the transition in China to ICD-11. Healthcare facilities and academic organizations will be actively promoting ICD-11 as well,and there exist many opportunities for international cooperation in subsequent work.

The opening ceremony for this meeting was hosted by Professor Geoffrey M. Reed, senior program officer for the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Dr. Reed was involved in the revision of the ICD-10. The meeting was also managed by Dr. Poznyak, official from WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Secretary of Party Leadership Group of the Shanghai Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission Huang Hong, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine vice chancellor Prof. Chen Hongzhuan, Shanghai Mental Health Center President Xu Yifeng, SMHC vice president Xie Bin,and SMHC vice president Zhao Min all delivered the speeches at the conference. Professor Michael Philips,WHO Advisor on Mental Health, former Editor in chief of《Shanghai Archives of Psychiatry》, Director of Suicide and Crisis Intervention Research Center also attended the meeting. Shanghai Mental Health Center as the only field research center in China responsible for the Chinese ICD-11 mental and behavior disorder diagnosis guide fi eld studies hosted this three-day conference.

Xu Yifeng, president of the Shanghai Mental Health Center, said in his speech that WHO is currently revising diagnostic criteria for mental and behavioral disorders in ICD-10 and developing guidelines for the diagnosis of mental and behavioral disorders in ICD-11 and conducting clinical field studies. Since 2007, Chinese experts have been involved in the revision of ICD-10throughout the study, research and formulation of ICD-11. SMHC is currently conducting on-site research for diagnostic guidelines for mental health.

Huang Hong, Secretary of Party Leadership Group of the Shanghai Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission, said that mental health work has been included in the overall plan for national economic and social development as an important measure to safeguard and improve people’s livelihood and to strengthen and innovate social management. Currently, more work is required to meet the mental health services needs of the people.In his speech, Chen Hongzhuan, vice chancellor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine,emphasized that this meeting is of great signif i cance to promoting the development of mental health in China.He said the conference would actively promote the development of ICD-11. The development in China and through the implementation and verification of this international standard have important guiding value for further improving the service standards of mental health at home and abroad.

The Chinese national mental health law clearly stipulates that ICD is the diagnostic guideline to be used in clinical practice. Revisions for ICD-11 will have a large impact on the field of mental health in China.This meeting on November 7 was the last official meeting of the Field Studies Coordination Group and International Advisory Group for the Revision of ICD-10 Mental and Behavioural Disorders before rollout of the new guidelines. It summarized the past 10 years of relevant research, and discussed how to better promote worldwide application of ICD-11 in order to reduce the global burden of mental illness. This will be of great significance to promote the development of China’s mental health cause and deepen China’s cooperation with the international community. The meeting will actively promote the ICD-11 in the development of China and with the help of this international standard to further improve the international standard of mental health services in China.

On November 9, 2017, the experts also held a roundtable meeting on ICD-11 Mental and Behavioral Disorders in China, and drafed a document called “The mental health working plan for the development and promotion of ICD-11 Mental and Behavioral Disorders diagnostic guidelines in China”.

Subsequently, on November 10, 2017, the Shanghai Forum on Global Mental Health was held to review 20 years of work and plan for future collaborations in the area of Global Mental Health. The meeting was brilliant.

On November 11, 2017, the fi eld study coordinating meeting on ICD-11 Substance Use and Addiction Disorders was organized by WHO mental health and substance abuse division and hosted by the Shanghai Mental Health Center. Under the coordination and support of China Association for the Control of Drug Abuse and Shanghai Mental Health Center, six field study centers in China will work together to accomplish this challenging and far-reaching field study based on the consensus of this meeting and will work together to improve addiction behavior diagnostic guidelines for ICD-11. Professor Zhao Min emphasized that in ICD-11, ‘game disorder’ will be included in substance use and addictive behaviors section, alongside synthetic drugs, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and illegal drugs.For maintaining and improving the usability of the diagnostic system, Shanghai Mental health Center has being greatly advancing field study of proposed guideline for ICD-11 mental and behavioral disorders in China.

In summary, Chinese experts continued to be involved both nationally and internationally in the development of diagnostic guidelines. These diagnostic guidelines will inevitably improve the people lives and improve their physical and mental health!