There have been frequent and continued discussions about refining the classification of disorders in DSM-5, including the multi-axial system used by clinicians to document diagnoses and variables of clinical importance. A subgroup has been charged with examining the utility of Axis III, which is currently used in DSM-IV to record general medical conditions related to the patient’s mental disorder. The subgroup has recommended that DSM-5 collapse Axes I, II, and III into one axis that contains all psychiatric and general medical diagnoses. This change would bring DSM-5 into greater harmony with the single-axis approach used by the international community in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Axis IV is currently where clinicians document psychosocial and environmental problems, such as whether a patient is having housing or economic problems or problems with his/her primary support group. The group working on Axis IV is examining the codes in the 10th edition of the ICD that might be comparable to the concepts presented in DSM-IV. Using these codes would allow DSM to more closely parallel the ICD as well. Finally, regarding Axis V, which allows clinicians to rate a patient’s overall level of functioning, the Impairment and Disability Study Group is discussing ways in which disability and distress can be better assessed in DSM-5. They have recommended that DSM-5 more closely follow the concepts outlines in the WHO International Family of Classifications, in which disorders and their associated disabilities are conceptually distinct and assessed separately.