Axes of the DSM IV

This post names all of the mental health conditions listed in the DSM IV. After reading a few of the names it will be obvious that psychiatrists and psychologists like to refer to their patients or clients as disordered. They would do well to remember that if they too are disordered according to the DSM IV because just about every imaginable human behaviour is listed in the manual. To label someone as disordered is both offensive and stigmatising. It tells the patient they are different or abnormal. Additionally, some of these ‘disorders’ can lead professionals to start treating the patient differently once the diagnosis has been given. Sometimes it is the mental health professionals themselves who treat patients so bad that they develop additional symptoms which have a detrimental effect on their overall wellbeing. When a mental health professional treats a patients worse than the general population does, you have to question why such a person when in for this line of career.

Axis I

Clinical Disorders

Other Conditions That May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention

These disorders are usually diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or adolescence and do not include mental retardation (that is diagnosed on Axis II).

Delirium, Dementia, and Amnestic and Other Cognitive Disorders

Mental Disorders Due to a General Medical Condition

Substance-Related Disorders

Mood Disorders

Anxiety Disorders

Somatoform Disorders

Factitious Disorders

Dissociative Disorders

Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders

Eating Disorders

Sleep Disorders

Impulse-Control Disorders Not Otherwise Classified

Adjustment Disorders

Other Conditions That May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention

 
Axis II

Personality Disorders

Mental Retardation

Paranoid Personality Disorder

Schizoid Personality Disorder

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Avoidant Personality Disorder

Dependent Personality Disorder

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Personality Disorder Not Otherwise Specified

Mental Retardation

 

Axis III covers general medical conditions. General medical conditions in a manual for mental health disorders? According to the DSM IV, this is supposedly to cover medical conditions that are potentially relevant to the understanding or management of the individual’s mental disorder. Surely the patient either has a medical conditions and all of its associated symptoms (be they physiological or psychological) or they have a mental ‘disorder’ and all of its associated symptoms (be they physiological or psychological). For example, anxiety has psychological and physiological symptoms but is it covered under general medical conditions? No? General medical conditions do not need to be in the DSM. It just adds more conditions in which psychologists and psychiatrists can label people as ‘disordered’.

 
Axis III

General Medical Conditions

Infectious and Parasitic Diseases

Neoplasms

Endocrine, Nutritional, and Metabolic Diseases and Immunity Disorders

Diseases of the Blood and Blood-Forming Organs

Diseases of the Nervous System and Sense Organs

Diseases of the Circulatory System

Diseases of the Respiratory System

Diseases of the Digestive System

Diseases of the Genitourinary System

Complications of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Puerperium

Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue

Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue

Congenital Anomalies

Certain Conditions Originating in the Perinatal Period

Symptoms, Signs, and Ill-Defined Conditions

Injury and Poisoning

 

Axis IV

Psychosocial and Environmental Problems

Problems with primary support group

Problems related to the social environment

Educational problems

Occupational problems

Housing problems

Economic problems

Problems with access to health care services

Problems related to interaction with the legal system/crime

Other psychosocial and environmental problems

 

Axis V

Global Assessment of Functioning

This covers the severity of symptoms, how well the person is functioning with everyday life (i.e., at home, school, work, hygiene etc.), and if the person is a threat to themselves or others.

 In the next post I will cover some of the condition under Axis I. The post after that will cover some of the conditions under Axis II.

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