In 1993 the WHO Collaborating Centre Department of Social Psychiatry of the State University Groningen and the Academical Hospital Groningen have been participating in an international field trial with respect to the draft version of a multiaxial classification system of the ICD-10. The multiaxial classification system is expected to be published in 1994. Therefore we would like to introduce this system in comparison with the multiaxial system of the DSM. Because of the increasing importance of exploring the consequences of disease and the quality of life of psychiatric patients we strongly recommend a separate classification system independent from the existing diagnostic systems.