Expansion of Knowledge, Practice and Public Policy with the ICD-11 for Psychologists and Mental Health Professionals: A Literature Review and Critical Analysis

Background: Mental disorders are alterations in several functional domains of human beings that trigger greater morbidity and mortality if not adequately addressed. The International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD11) is a recently approved global and modern system to guide clinical practice faced with these disorders and other conditions. State of the art: Despite the imminent implementation of this system in member states, the guidelines on its scientific basis, practice and importance in public health have been published in a scattered manner, with a mainly medical psychiatric target audience, hence, it is necessary to unify these guidelines in a unique text. Therefore, the objective of this review was to analyze three associated aspects: (a) current knowledge of the matter, (b) its application in psychological practice, and (c) reflection concerning the implications on public health policies. To do this, these aspects were divided into 10 sections with the most relevant topics, and examples to facilitate their use and comments to promote understanding were described. Conclusions: This paper presents a review that comprehensively addresses knowledge-practice-policy triad of mental disorders of the ICD-11. Authors’ contributions The authors participated equally in the preparation of this paper