DSM-IV › Mood disorders › Specifiers describing current or most recent episode › Chronic specifier for a major depressive episode 

Chronic Specifier for a Major Depressive Episode

This specifier indicates the chronic nature of a Major Depressive Episode (i.e., that full criteria for a Major Depressive Episode have been continuously met for at least 2 years). This specifier applies to the current (or, if the full criteria are not currently met for a Major Depressive Episode, to the most recent) Major Depressive Episode in Major Depressive Disorder and to the current (or most recent) Major Depressive Episode in Bipolar I or Bipolar II Disorder only if it is the most recent type of mood episode.

Criteria for Chronic Specifier

Specify if:

Chronic (can be applied to the current or most recent Major Depressive Episode in Major Depressive Disorder and to a Major Depressive Episode in Bipolar I or II Disorder only if it is the most recent type of mood episode)

Full criteria for a Major Depressive Episode have been met continuously for at least the past 2 years.

Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision^TM. Copyright 2000 American Psychiatric Association. All Rights Reserved.