Social Anxiety Disorder ICD 10 Criteria

Understanding the ICD 10 Criteria for Social Anxiety Disorder

Are you confused about the social anxiety disorder ICD 10 criteria? I was for a while too, as it seems like there are a few different versions of the ICD (International Classification of Diseases developed by the World Health Organization) floating around out there. So, I thought I’d take a  minute and try to reduce the confusion for you.

Social Anxiety Disorder Criteria

The first thing that is important to understand is that the ICD 10 is the version currently in use, but the ICD 11 has been created and is available online. So, let’s take a look at the criteria for social anxiety disorder in each of these versions.

Social Anxiety Disorder ICD 10 Criteria

You can access the ICD 10 online to see the criteria for yourself if you want, but I’ll summarize them for you here.

F40.1 Social Phobias

In the ICD 10, there is a category called “F40.1 Social Phobias” that covers what we know as social anxiety disorder. This category falls under the parent category of “Neurotic, Stress-Related, and Somatoform Disorders.”

There is a description of this category that I will paraphrase for you below.

Social phobia refers to the fear of being scrutinized by others, which leads you to avoid social situations. When social phobia is severe it can involve fear of being criticized and lowered self-esteem. Common symptom complaints include blushing, shaking, nausea, etc. You may feel as though these secondary symptoms of anxiety are actually your primary problem (i.e., you can’t control your blushing or shaking and that is what makes you anxious). In some cases, social phobia may progress to experiencing panic attacks.

This category also notes that synonyms for social phobia include anthropophobia and social neurosis.

F93.2 Social anxiety disorder of childhood

In the ICD 10, there is also a category for social anxiety in childhood. This is described as being wary of strangers and being apprehensive or anxious when in new, strange, or socially threatening situations. This category is only for cases where social anxiety begins in childhood and is severe and impairs functioning.

F94.0 Elective Mutism

Finally, a related category is that of elective mutism. Elective mutism refers to when a child chooses not to speak in certain situations. The child usually also has social anxiety, sensitivity, and a tendency to withdraw or be resistant. It’s also called selective mutism.

Social Anxiety Disorder ICD 11 Criteria

Okay, so how did they change the definition of social anxiety disorder in the ICD 11? Good question!

In the ICD 11 we see that it falls under the following.

6B04 Social Anxiety Disorder

It falls under the parent category “Anxiety and Fear Related Disorders.” The other disorders in this category include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobia, separation anxiety disorder, and selective mutism.

And we can paraphrase the description like this.

Social anxiety disorder involves excessive fear or anxiety in one or more social situations such as talking to people, being watched while doing something, or performing in front of people. In this case, you are worried that you will act in a way or show anxiety symptoms that lead to others evaluating you in a negative way. You tend to avoid the situations or you experience them with intense fear or anxiety. The symptoms must have lasted for several months and are severe enough to cause you distress and impair your personal, family, social, work, school, or other areas of your life.

6B06 Selective Mutism

Once again, in the ICD 11 we see the selective mutism category appear.

Social Anxiety DSM 5 Criteria

How do the ICD 10 and ICD 11 criteria for social anxiety disorder differ from those outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? If you’d like to read about those criteria, I have a whole post about that here.

Different Types of Social Anxiety Disorders

Are you interested in different types of social anxiety disorders? While I’ve discussed social anxiety disorder and selective mutism in this post, there are other disorders that involve social anxiety. You can read about those in this post on that topic.

What about you? Are you a health professional learning about the ICD 10 or looking up the criteria for another reason? I’d love to hear your story in the comments below.

Related Posts about Social Anxiety Disorder

• 9 Types of Social Anxiety Disorders
• Social Anxiety Disorder DSM-5 Criteria
• Social Anxiety vs Avoidant Personality Disorder

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Social Anxiety Disorder ICD-10 Criteria