The ICD-10 multiaxial system for use in adult psychiatry aims to provide clinicians with a tool for the systematic assessment and a more comprehensive formulation of different aspects of the psychiatric patient's state. The schema was designed after an extensive review of the existing multiaxial systems and developed with the help of an international expert advisory committee and a large number of experts from different parts of the world, including members of the WPA, participants in the development of different versions of the ICD-10 and others collaborating in WHO programmes.

The results of the international field trials of the ICD-10 multiaxial system showed that the majority of clinicians belonging to different psychiatric schools and traditions found the schema to be user-friendly, applicable in their settings and useful in routine clinical work, training, research and statistics of mental disorders. The participants in the first field trial suggested a number of ways to improve the recording of information on specific axes of the ICD-10 multiaxial schema. The recommended amendments were incorporated in the system and tested in the second field trial, the results of which indicated that the suggested changes improved the feasibility and reliability of the schema and its axes. The second field trial also indicated the necessity for further adjustments of the schema, i.e., deletion of the Axis II ‘global functioning’ category and inclusion of brief glossary definitions and descriptions of the Axis I and Axis III categories, which has been done in the current version of the ICD-10 multiaxial system.