Pattern and course
Onset, duration, frequency, severity, episode pattern and change from the person’s usual functioning.
ICD-11 DISORDER FAMILY
Elimination Disorders: ICD-11 Guide
A diagnostic term can bring order to a confusing pattern. The term still needs to be understood through the person’s history, daily life and the alternatives a qualified professional must consider. Repeated urination or defecation in inappropriate places beyond the expected developmental stage and not solely due to another condition.
Reviewed 24 August 2026
What this means
Repeated urination or defecation in inappropriate places beyond the expected developmental stage and not solely due to another condition. Medical, developmental, stress and safeguarding contexts must be considered without blame. A diagnosis is assigned only after a qualified assessment establishes the required pattern and considers exclusions, culture, development, physical health, medicines and substances.
Conditions and qualifiers in this family
- Enuresis
- Encopresis
This is a reader-friendly family map, not a substitute for the current WHO coding browser. “Other specified” and “unspecified” residual categories, course qualifiers and extension codes are not presented as self-assessment options.
What a professional assessment considers
Context and alternatives
Development, culture, trauma, physical illness, sleep, medicines, substances and overlapping disorders.
Impact and need
Distress, daily functioning, strengths, support, safeguarding and immediate or longer-term risk.
What the classification can and cannot do
ICD-11 gives health systems a shared language for clinical communication, service planning and health statistics. It can help a professional organise a complex presentation and consider recognised boundaries between conditions. It does not explain the whole person, determine prognosis, select one treatment automatically or replace an individual formulation.
People may have features from more than one family, meet requirements for more than one disorder, or experience clinically important symptoms without meeting a disorder threshold. A responsible assessment records uncertainty and reviews the formulation when new evidence appears.
Support in a UK pathway
The appropriate route depends on age, severity, urgency, physical health, safeguarding and local commissioning. It may begin with a GP, NHS Talking Therapies or a specialist mental-health, neurodevelopmental, eating-disorder, substance-use, perinatal, neurology or memory service. Independent assessment should use appropriately qualified professionals, clear consent, transparent fees and a plan for communication with NHS care where necessary.
Related ICD-11 families
Official WHO sources
- WHO: ICD-11 Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Requirements
- WHO: ICD-11 for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics
Scope and urgent support
It is important to keep the boundary clear. iMetaWellness provides complementary wellbeing information and reflective support. We do not diagnose a mental disorder, select investigations, interpret results as a medical opinion, prescribe treatment or replace a GP, psychiatrist, psychologist, pharmacist or NHS service. A test becomes useful when a qualified professional has a clear question and knows what will happen after the result.
If someone may act on suicidal thoughts, cannot remain safe, has severe confusion, new psychosis, collapse, seizure, chest pain or another immediate danger, call 999 or attend A&E. For urgent concerns that are not immediately life-threatening, contact NHS 111, the person’s GP, mental-health team or local crisis service.
Use the information responsibly
We can help you organise what you have noticed, the questions you want to ask, the routines that may be relevant and a concise summary for the appropriate professional. We do not order tests or confirm diagnoses.