An International Consultation on Multiaxial Diagnosis

Abstract

Essen-Möller and Wohlfahrt¹ in Sweden in 1947 and Leme Lopes² in Brazil in 1954 inaugurated a new approach to diagnostic formulation in psychiatry. This approach, currently known as the multiaxial model, attempts to articulate in an explicit and formal manner the key elements of the patient’s condition. These elements, termed axes, are evaluated separately from each other and basically include clinical syndromes and etiological or associated factors. During the past decade at least 13 other multiaxial systems, originating from ten different countries, have been published.³ A variety of axes have been included in these systems, with the common intentions of providing a more comprehensive representation of the clinically pertinent factors of a psychiatric condition and of making the formulation more useful for the various basic diagnostic purposes (i.e., clinical description, treatment, prognosis, and etiological and theoretical research).