Third Cuban Glossary of Psychiatry (GC-3): key features and contributions

The GC-3 is the third edition of a long-standing and serial effort to annotate and adapt the mental disorders component of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) to Cuban realities and needs. The Cuban Glossary since its first edition in 1975 distinctively utilizes a bottom-up and multidisciplinary developmental approach. The GC-3 as an adaptation of ICD-10 has rescued and refined the concept of neurosis and facilitated its placement throughout pertinent sections of the international classification. It has also facilitated the identification of prodromic phases of various recurrent disorders. The GC-3 endorses the view that a diagnosis should deal with several important clinical aspects in addition to illness senso stricto and that it should have a prominent therapeutic orientation. In line with this, a multiaxial schema has been included in GC-3, adding three axes to the triaxial ICD-10 adult psychiatry schema. Empirical studies are being carried out to appraise the clinical use and usefulness of the GC-3 hexaxial schema.