Disorders due to substance use or addictive behaviours in the ICD-11

This paper concerns the revised classification of Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) of the World Health Organization. The revision of the ICD serves to reflect changes in the understanding and diagnosis of addictive disorders and the need to improve clinical applicability. Regarding substance-related and non-substance-related addictive disorders, considerable innovations were introduced compared to the previous version. Major innovations include an expanded range of substance classes, significant adjustments (i.e., simplifications) in the conceptual and diagnostic guidelines of substance-related disorders, particularly "substance dependence", the introduction of the category of "addictive behaviour," and, associated with this, the assignment of "gambling disorder" to the addictive disorders, and the inclusion of the new (screen-related) "gaming disorder." In addition, for the first time the ICD catalogue includes an expansion of diagnostic options for early, preclinical phenotypes of addiction disorders ("Episodic Harmful Use"). This article summarizes the changes in the field of addiction disorders and discusses them from a child and adolescent psychiatric perspective.