What are Axis disorders? The IQ tests results show Axis ...

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Ok, the topic and question are too long to fit in the subject line.

In IQ results there is the word Axis and then the number (example 299.00) and then the dignosis.

What does Axis mean and what does the number mean?

Edit ( wrong site posted : / )

Cal has posted it anyway...

Last edited by TechnoDog on 28 Mar 2012, 9:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

The DSM uses a multiaxial system of diagnosis. That means your diagnosis is actually rather complex, if you write it out fully. It's an attempt to extend the diagnosis past a single term and encompass long-term problems, physical problems, and your environment as well as the psychological diagnosis.

Axis I is for clinical disorders, the kind of things that a psychologist will diagnose. They are "mental illnesses" or "developmental disorders" or similar. Axis I is what you think of most of the time when you think of a diagnosis. That's where the numbers come in: Every diagnosis is given a number code for shorthand. The first number before the decimal is the general category and the second number is a specific diagnosis.

Axis II is also for diagnosis, but Axis II disorders are things that are expected to last your whole life. Right now, this axis includes just the personality disorders and intellectual disability, but I think autism should be here too. They still have autism on Axis I, unfortunately (I think that's an oversight, but when they wrote the latest diagnostic manual nearly twenty years ago, autism research wasn't as advanced as it is now.)

Axis III is for medical disorders that aren't primarily psychological or neurological.

Axis IV are social, environmental, family, and other problems you might be having.

Axis V is the GAF. That's a score on a 1-100 scale that measures how well you're currently coping with your life, where anything below 40 usually means you're having serious problems (and are probably hospitalized or live with a caretaker or aide), from 40-70 is typical for disabled people, 60-80 is typical for NTs under stress, and 80-100 is typical for someone who is having few or no problems.

So, a multiaxial diagnosis might look like this:

I thought Axis I was the stuff you were pretty much stuck with but could learn to manage (autism, bipolar, MDD, schizophrenia, et cetera), and Axis II was the stuff that was acquired from sh***y experiences and circumstances and can actually be gotten rid of with therapy(personality disorders, PTSD).

Axis III is the physiological things that are exacerbating your problems (diabetes, high blood pressure, happening to be quadriplegic, whatever).

Axis IV is the environmental factors exacerbating your problems (grief, abusive relationship, unemployment).

"Exacerbating your problems" means "making the other stuff harder to deal with."

The thing that pisses me off is people's attitudes toward Axis I stuff. "Oh, you're disabled, it's permanent, you're broken. Here, take these pills and if it doesn't get less noticeable from the outside we might warehouse you. Remember to be grateful, and have a nice day."

That's STUPID and WRONG. Not just for AS. For lots of things.

It is more the opposite.

Yeah, pretty much. That's why I thing autism should be on Axis II with intellectual disability and personality disorders, because autism is life-long.

Axis I disorders can be life-long, episodic, or transient.

I guess the difference between Axis I and II is that psychologists often consider Axis II disorders to be "background" disorders, things that are more stable, long-term, unchanging.

The Axis I vs. Axis II distinction has gotten kind of messed-up over the years. Personally, I think borderline personality disorder should probably be on Axis I along with the other disorders that involve mood instability, dissociation, etc. (many psychologists agree with this idea), especially because borderline isn't all that stable as a disorder--it can be more episodic, get much worse and much better. Autism should be on Axis II with the life-long, stable disorders; it doesn't change any more than intellectual disability does--that is, it gets "better" when people learn new useful skills and get into an autism-friendly environment, just like with ID.

Or you could just have them all on Axis I, and simplify a lot of things. That'd be my choice if I had my way about it; just put them all in the same category. The distinction isn't particularly useful, so why complicate things unnecessarily, right? Some disorders are by definition more long-term and stable, some are more transient and variable. You can get that information from the diagnosis itself; so why worry about which disorder belongs where?

Axis I disorders can be life-long, episodic, or transient.

What is a transient disorder?

Also, How can I have a diagnosis of Asperger's and of Autistic disorder?

Thanks for the explanations everyone.

Transient means "temporary". Like a single episode of depression, for example, versus "episodic" which means multiple episodes.

AS and Autistic Disorder... basically a matter of categories.

The main category is "Autism Spectrum Disorders", or just "Autism".

Asperger's and Autistic Disorder are two specific disorders within that category.

You're not supposed to be diagnosed with both, but it could be that the doctor meant to say "Asperger's, an autism spectrum disorder". If you have Asperger's, you're autistic, because Asperger's is a form of autism.

It's just confusing because one of the types of autism is called Autistic Disorder. Overly complex, IMO.

Anyway, as far as treatment goes, it's probably not going to make a difference. They have to evaluate you as an individual anyway, and autistic people are so diverse.

I've got similar diagnostic vagueness going on in my own case--I've been given every ASD diagnosis except for Rett's and CDD--so I just tend to say I'm on the autism spectrum, or just I'm autistic. Simple and to the point.

The diagnosis isn't knew but the IQ is a new experienced. I don't know about the majority of people here but I was diagnosed without being given an IQ test.

It lists me as having both.

There's something in the ICD that sounds similar, not sure if this is the case here. Could it be like this?:

I basically have two ADHD diagnoses in my report when it should be one or the other. However, during the diagnostic process, they figured out that I have some form of ADHD and they narrowed it down to these two diagnoses that both fall under "ADHD". At that time they couldn't figure out which one I have exactly. As whether I have one or the other makes no difference in treatment, they left it at that.