alt.social-security-disability

Ahh. Ok thank you for the great explaination, Jack :)

"Jack" wrote in message
news: @ ...
> On Mon, 1 Oct 2007 18:14:37 -0400, "Robin" wrote:
>
>>What, if I may ask, is a GAF?
>
> Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning
>
> Clients with the same classification on Axes I or II may differ in the
> degree to which they continue to function psychologically, socially or
> occupationally. One patient may be highly distressed, withdraw from
> social life and lose their job while another may be upset but develop
> coping strategies for getting through social interactions and dealing
> with the demands of work. These differences are assessed on Axis V.
>
> Clinicians make two judgements of global level of functioning, one for
> the period immediately surrounding the consultation and one for the
> HIGHEST level in the preceding year. It is widely believed that a
> patient who has functioned well in the previous year but currently is
> functioning poorly has a better prognosis than someone who has
> functioned poorly for the whole year.
>
> Ratings are made using the Global Assessment of Functioning scale,
> which rates function from 1 - markedly serious dysfunction that
> threatens the patient and/or other people, to 90 - no symptoms or
> minimal dysfunction. The DSM manual gives guidance as to which
> behaviours are associated with each level of this scale. For example,
> serious suicidal acts with a clear expectation of death rate a score
> of about 1, suicidal thoughts and inability to keep a job rate a score
> between 41 and 50 and occasional worries, such as pre-examination
> anxiety, merit a score between 81 and 90.
>
>