DSM-IV › Mood disorders › Specifiers describing current or most recent episode 

Specifiers Describing Current or Most Recent Episode

A number of specifiers for Mood Disorders are provided to increase diagnostic specificity and create more homogeneous subgroups, assist in treatment selection, and improve the prediction of prognosis. The Severity/Psychotic/Remission specifiers describe the current clinical status of the Mood Disorder . The following specifiers describe symptom or course features of the current mood episode (or the most recent mood episode if criteria are not currently met for any episode): Chronic, With Catatonic Features , With Melancholic Features , With Atypical Features , and With Postpartum Onset . The specifiers that indicate severity, remission, and psychotic features can be coded in the fifth digit of the diagnostic code for most of the Mood Disorders . The other specifiers cannot be coded. Table 1 indicates which episode specifiers apply to each Mood Disorder (see p. 411).

Table 1. Episode specifiers that apply to Mood Disorders

	Severity/ Psychotic/ Remission	Chronic	With Catatonic Features	With Melancholic Features	With Atypical Features	With Postpartum Onset
Major Depressive Disorder, Single Episode	X	X	X	X	X	X
Major Depressive Disorder, Recurrent	X	X	X	X	X	X
Dysthymic Disorder					X
Bipolar I Disorder, Single Manic Episode	X		X			X
Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Hypomanic
Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Manic	X		X			X
Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Mixed	X		X			X
Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Depressed	X	X	X	X	X	X
Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Unspecified
Bipolar II Disorder, Hypomanic
Bipolar II Disorder, Depressed	X	X	X	X	X	X
Cyclothymic Disorder

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.