F98 — Other behavioural and emotional disorders with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence

What is this category?

Unlike most other blocks' thin 'other' residual categories, F98 groups a genuinely heterogeneous set of conditions — enuresis, encopresis, feeding disorders, pica, stereotyped movement disorders, stuttering, and cluttering — unified only by their usual onset in childhood or adolescence and by not fitting F90-F95. Each subcategory has its own, substantially distinct diagnostic criteria taught here in depth, not as a thin residual.

Core diagnostic concept

Several F98 subcategories (enuresis, encopresis) specifically require the presentation to be 'nonorganic' — that is, not attributable to a physical or neurological cause such as a urinary tract abnormality or bowel disease — which must be actively ruled out, not merely assumed, before the code applies. Others are distinguished from one another and from tic disorders (F95) primarily by the specific character of the repetitive or disrupted behaviour involved.

Key diagnostic features

Nonorganic qualifier (enuresis, encopresis)

A physical or neurological cause must be actively ruled out before a nonorganic classification applies — this is a decision reached after excluding an organic explanation, not a default.

Heterogeneous, genuinely distinct subtypes

Enuresis, encopresis, feeding disorders, pica, stereotyped movement disorders, stuttering, and cluttering each have their own specific diagnostic pattern, not a shared common feature beyond childhood onset.

Dignity in framing

These conditions are common, often treatable, and can be a significant source of shame for children and families — none of them reflects a moral failing or intentional misbehaviour.

Fluency-disruption distinction (stuttering vs. cluttering)

Stuttering involves repetitions, prolongations, or blocks in speech, typically with the speaker's own awareness and anticipatory anxiety; cluttering involves an erratic, jerky, or excessively rapid speech rate that distorts intelligibility, typically without that same anticipatory awareness.

How to weigh evidence

These learning labels are teaching aids, not official ICD-10 terminology (see Sources and Method).

• supports A 6-year-old continues to wet the bed at night several times a week, with no daytime urinary symptoms, a normal physical examination, and no identified urinary tract abnormality on assessment.
• consistent not decisive A child 'still wets the bed sometimes' with no further detail on frequency, physical assessment, or organic causes considered.
• raises alternative A child's bedwetting began suddenly alongside daytime urinary frequency and pain, prompting investigation for a urinary tract infection or other organic cause before any classification here is considered.
• contradicts or weakens A confirmed structural urinary tract abnormality fully explains the wetting pattern.
• missing and necessary to ask Whether a physical or neurological cause has actually been assessed and ruled out, not merely assumed absent.

Duration and course

Minimum duration: Varies by subcategory; enuresis and encopresis are typically judged against an expected age of bladder/bowel control for the child's developmental stage, while stuttering/cluttering and stereotyped movement disorder require a persistent, not transient, pattern.

Course: Many of these conditions improve substantially with age, support, and treatment; course varies considerably by subtype.

Included presentations

• A heterogeneous set of childhood-onset conditions — nonorganic enuresis and encopresis, feeding disorders, pica, stereotyped movement disorders, stuttering, and cluttering — each with its own distinct diagnostic pattern.

Exclusions and distinguishing presentations

Four-character subtypes (orientation)

F98.0/F98.1's 'nonorganic' qualifier must be actively established by ruling out a physical cause, never assumed by default; the other subcategories are each defined by their own specific pattern, not a shared severity scale.

F98.0 — Nonorganic enuresis

Involuntary voiding of urine, by day or night, inappropriate for the child's mental age, not explained by a physical or neurological cause. (in_depth)

F98.1 — Nonorganic encopresis

Repeated, voluntary or involuntary passage of stools in inappropriate places, not explained by a physical or neurological cause, once the child would ordinarily be expected to have bowel control. (in_depth)

F98.2 — Feeding disorder of infancy and childhood

A persistent failure to eat adequately, with food refusal or extreme faddiness, in the presence of an adequate caregiver and food availability, not explained by an organic illness. (in_depth)

F98.3 — Pica of infancy and childhood

Persistent eating of non-nutritive substances (such as soil, paint, or paper), inappropriate for the child's developmental level. (in_depth)

F98.4 — Stereotyped movement disorders

Voluntary, repetitive, rhythmic, often self-soothing movements (such as body-rocking or head-banging) without an underlying neurological or psychiatric condition that would better explain them, distinguished from the sudden, non-rhythmic, involuntary quality of a tic (F95). (in_depth)

F98.5 — Stuttering [stammering]

Speech disrupted by frequent repetitions, prolongations, or blocks, typically with the speaker's own awareness of and anticipatory anxiety about the disruption. (in_depth)

F98.6 — Cluttering

Speech disrupted by an erratic, jerky, or excessively rapid rate that distorts intelligibility, typically without the same anticipatory awareness seen in stuttering. (in_depth)

F98.8 — Other specified behavioural and emotional disorders with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence

A behavioural or emotional disorder with childhood onset not fitting the other listed states. (taught for orientation only, not separately assessed in this pilot)

F98.9 — Unspecified behavioural and emotional disorder with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence

Insufficient information to specify further. (taught for orientation only, not separately assessed in this pilot)

Common learner errors

• Common mistake: Treating bedwetting or soiling as a moral failing or deliberate misbehaviour

Worked example — nonorganic, or an organic cause first?

A 7-year-old continues to wet the bed most nights. Her paediatrician has examined her, found no structural abnormality, no daytime urinary symptoms, and no history suggestive of a urinary tract infection or neurological condition, and confirms there is no identified physical cause.

1. Step 1 — Check whether an organic cause has actually been assessed: a paediatric examination was carried out, not merely assumed unnecessary.
2. Step 2 — Confirm no physical or neurological cause was found: no structural abnormality, infection, or neurological condition was identified.
3. Step 3 — Check developmental appropriateness: continued bedwetting at this age, without an organic explanation, is inappropriate for her expected developmental stage.
4. Conclusion — With an organic cause actively ruled out, F98.0 (nonorganic enuresis) is supported.

Interactive practice

• Type A Bedwetting, with an organic cause ruled out Recognition · Foundational
• Type B Sudden bedwetting, with daytime symptoms Boundary discrimination · Transfer

Retrieval prompts

Try answering each of these from memory before revealing where to check. Nothing you think or type here is sent or saved anywhere.

1. Explain why 'nonorganic' must be actively established, not assumed, for F98.0/F98.1.

   Reveal answer location

   Check Duration and course, Diagnostic boundary, or the rapid revision card below — the cue you need is one of those, in this category's own already-authored wording.

   I recalled this I need to review this

2. Explain the difference between stuttering and cluttering.

   Reveal answer location

   Check Duration and course, Diagnostic boundary, or the rapid revision card below — the cue you need is one of those, in this category's own already-authored wording.

   I recalled this I need to review this

These self-checks are a personal study aid only, visible to you on this page for this visit — they are not stored and do not affect your mastery dimensions.

Related glossary terms

• Encopresis

  The repeated, voluntary or involuntary passage of stools in inappropriate places, once a child would ordinarily be expected to have bowel control. Classified as nonorganic (F98.1) only once a physical or neurological cause has been actively assessed and ruled out, not merely assumed absent.

  Open full glossary entry →