[On the necessity to develop a special list of medical criteria for the qualifying sign "mental disorder"].

The authors propose and discuss approaches to the expert evaluation of the severity of harm to the health in the form of mental disorder associated with the traumatic impact. The following qualifying signs of the degree of harm to the health included in the current legislation are considered in terms of forensic psychiatry: "life-threatening harm" (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, article 111) and "length/brevity of impairment of the health" (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, articles 112, 115). The well-grounded proposals of changes in the existing legislation envisage that the qualifying sign "permanent maladjustment" should be introduced into the corresponding legal innovations of the Criminal Code as useful for the forensic medical examination of victims with mental disorders. Substantive definition of such notions as "transient disadaptation", "permanent maladjustment" and degree of its manifestation (mild, moderate, severe) are given.