Novelties in ICD-11 in the area of sexual health
Autori:
Goran Arbanas
Sažetak
Summary
International classification of diseases (ICD) is the best known and the most accepted classification of diseases in the world, which is used also in Croatia. In 2018 the new edition of this classification was released, and it will become official in two years. The aim of this manuscript is to discuss the changes that ICD-11 will bring into the area of sexual health problems and disorders and possible consequences of these changes. Results. ICD-11 introduces the new category of conditions related to sexual health, as a separate and specific group of disorders. With this new location, sexual dysfunctions, sexual pain disorders and gender incongruence ceased to be mental disorders. Paraphilic disorders stay in the category of mental disorders, but the number of different paraphilic disorders has been reduced. The issues of sexual orientation are completely excluded from ICD-11, so sexual orientation in any form (even if ego-dystonic) cannot be classified as a disorder. The classification also contains classification of causes (etiologies) of sexual disorders – those associated with medical conditions, with psychological factors, with the use of psychoactive substances, with lack of knowledge, with relationship factors and with cultural factors. Conclusions. ICD-11 introduces major changes in the process of diagnosing and classification of conditions related to sexual health, which will lead to changes in clinical work (it arises the question of who are
the professionals – specialists who should treat these disorders, since all the other chapters in ICD are represented by distinct specialities), but also in regard of sexual freedom and sexual rights (excluding gender incongruence from the list of mental disorders, and excluding sexual orientation from the list of disorders).