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For each diagnostic category, in the MMS a ‘Description’ can be found, e.g., for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is characterized by disturbances in multiple mental modalities, including thinking (e.g., delusions, disorganization in the form of thought), perception (e.g., hallucinations), self-experience (e.g., the experience that one’s feelings, impulses, thoughts, or behaviour are under the control of an external force), cognition (e.g., impaired attention, verbal memory, and social cognition), volition (e.g., loss of motivation), affect (e.g., blunted emotional expression), and behaviour (e.g., behaviour that appears bizarre or purposeless, unpredictable or inappropriate emotional responses that interfere with the organization of behaviour). Psychomotor disturbances, including catatonia, may be present. Persistent delusions, persistent hallucinations, thought disorder, and experiences of influence, passivity, or control are considered core symptoms. Symptoms must have persisted for at least one month in order for a diagnosis of schizophrenia to be assigned. The symptoms are not a manifestation of another health condition (e.g., a brain tumour) and are not due to the effect of a substance or medication on the central nervous system (e.g., corticosteroids), including withdrawal (e.g., alcohol withdrawal).
In addition, however, detailed Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines (CDDG) for chapter 6 ‘Mental, behavioural or neurodevelopmental disorders’ with a focus on clinical utility have been developed, which are not yet finalized and publicized, but can be found under GCP network (guidelines). Here you will find the essential diagnostic requirements, additional clinical features, boundaries with normality and other disorders, course features, culture- and gender-related features, and developmental presentations. However, different from DSM in ICD‚ functioning‘ in principle is not part of the defining diagnostic criteria for mental disorders, although it may be severely disturbed and should be assessed by ICF in addition to ICD.
Each of these categories are ‘pre-coordinated’, in the sense that each category is then already further subdivided with a code for currently symptomatic, in partial remission, or in full remission. Further detailed coding is possible by post-coordination adding the symptom qualifiers.