Positive HealthClassificationFramework
A developmental classification framework for describing what is present, available, demonstrated and supported in positive mental health.
Exploreframework
↓
Diagnosis tells an important, but incomplete, part of the clinical story.
PHCF addresses a simple gap. Systems for classifying mental disorder are highly developed. The language for systematically recording positive mental health is far less integrated.
The framework is intended to sit alongside ordinary clinical assessment. It does not replace DSM, ICD, risk assessment, functioning, quality of life or formulation.
From a clinical problem to a classification system.
The PHCF was developed by Paul D. Kremer from a simple observation. Mental health systems classify disorder, symptoms, risk and functioning in considerable detail, yet positive mental health is usually measured through separate scales rather than organised as a comparable clinical classification.
The work therefore moved beyond a conceptual proposal. It now includes a Universal Core, a classification architecture, a Version 0.1 manual, structured recording resources and a research programme designed to test whether the framework adds clinically useful information.
The framework is intended to remain revisable. Reliability, validity, cultural assumptions, clinical utility and incremental value are questions to be investigated rather than treated as established facts.
About Paul D. Kremer and the work →A classification system needs more than a proposition.
The manual translates the conceptual framework into definitions, classification guidance, structured recording and worked applications.
No claim stronger than the evidence.
Conceptual architecture
Developed. The Universal Core and classification logic are specified.
Manual and recording system
Developmental Version 0.1. Available for scholarly, clinical and research evaluation.
Reliability and validity
Not yet established. These are central targets of the research programme.
Mental health classification is changing.
The future DSM and the search for a more complete clinical picture
What APA's 2026 roadmap says, what people mean when they search for “DSM-6”, and where PHCF sits in the wider debate.
Read analysis → ICD-11 / Digital classificationICD-11 - digital-first classification at scale
WHO's 2026 release, the CDDR, interoperability and what digital classification means for future mental health systems.
Read analysis → Psychiatric classificationDSM, ICD, RDoC, HiTOP and the missing language of positive health
A living hub connecting contemporary developments in psychiatric classification with the PHCF research programme.
Explore hub →Test it. Challenge it. Improve it.
Researchers are invited to examine reliability, construct validity, incremental validity, cultural validity, clinical utility and responsiveness to change.