You probably didn't start a career in mental health because you love charting, but unfortunately, it's a significant part of the medical field. In your work as a behavioral health professional, you'll almost certainly use ICD-10 codes, which are a staple in medical environments worldwide and a requirement for most insurance claims.

This classification system contains tens of thousands of codes. Of course, you don't need to know all of them, but some are more prevalent. We've compiled the most common mental health diagnostic codes in this ICD-10 cheat sheet for therapists, psychiatrists and other behavioral health professionals.

ICD-10 codes come from the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases, a framework created by the World Health Organization. Providers use ICD codes across different areas of medicine, including clinical care, research and insurance billing. They represent conditions, diseases, symptoms, injuries, external causes, abnormal findings and other aspects of diagnoses. The United States developed a version of the ICD-10 to fit the unique American health care system. Health professionals use ICD-10 Clinical Modification for medical claims in all settings.

Mental health providers typically use these codes to relay information to insurance providers, justifying why they rendered services and facilitating reimbursement. You might use current procedural terminology codes, too. While CPT codes describe the services rendered, ICD-10 codes describe the factors that make the services necessary. The ICD-10 codes also support care delivery, providing at-a-glance information on a client's condition and treatment history. You might use the ICD codes from another provider's report to quickly inform your current assessment.

As we discuss ICD-10 codes, remember that ICD-11, the latest version of this system, came out in 2022. The U.S. is still evaluating it and making changes, but will likely start transitioning to ICD-11 in the next few years. You'll need to keep up with these changes to stay compliant and use up-to-date tools.

Different letters in the ICD-10 codes correspond to categories of illnesses. For instance, issues with the circulatory system fall between I00 and I99. Mental health providers typically work with symptoms in three categories.

Though you might use any number of ICD-10 codes during your practice, here are some of the most common mental health diagnostic codes.

This category contains diagnosis codes for mental health issues related to substance use and dependence.

Codes F20-F29 cover non-mood psychotic disorders like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.