A multiaxial system involves an assessment on . several axes, each of which refers to a different domain of information, that may help the clinical plan treatment and predict outcomes.
There are five axes which are as follows :
Axis I : Clinical disorders, other condi-tions that may be a focus of clinical attention. This would include deliriums, dementia and annestic and other cognitive disorders. Subtance-related disorders schizophrenia and other Psychotic disorders mood disorders, Anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, Eating disorders, sleep disorders.
Axis II : Personality disorders; Mental Retardation Axis II is for reporting Personality disorders and mental retardation.
It may also be used for noting prominent maladaptive personality features various personality disorders are as follows :
• Histrionio Personality Disorder.
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
• Borderline Personality Disorder.
• Antisocial Personality Disorder.
• Dependent Personality Disorder.
• Avoidant Personality Disorder.
Axis III : General Medical Condition Axis III is for reporting current general medical conditions that are potentially relevant for the understanding and management of the individual’s mental disorder.
Axis IV : Psychosocial and Environ¬mental Problems. A psychosocial or environ¬mental problem may be a negative life event, an environmental difficulty or deficiency, a familial or interpersonal stress.
The various categories are as follows :
• 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.
Axis V : Global Assessment of function-ing Axis V is for reporting the clinician’s judgement of the individual’s overall level of functioning. This information is useful in planning treatment and measuring the impact and in predicting outcome. The reporting of overall functioning on Axis V can be done using the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. The GAF scale is divided into 10 ranges of functioning.
The scale has two components : The first part covers symptom severity and the second part covers functioning.
