The system used in psychiatry to evaluate various aspects of a patient’s mental, physical, psychosocial, and global functioning. dsm-iv-tr lists five axes: Axis I: Clinical disorders. Used to indicate the major disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and panic disorder. Axis II: personality disorders or mental retardation (intellectual disability). A separate axis is used to ensure that consideration is given to the possible presence of these conditions, which may otherwise be overlooked. Axis III: general medical conditions. Used to code major medical disorders that may be relevant to the patient’s care (e.g., thyroid disease, diabetes, hypertension). Axis IV: Psychosocial and environmental problems. Used to indicate problems that might interact with the psychiatric and medical diagnoses (e.g., homelessness, substance ABUSE) and treatment. Axis V: global assessment of functioning. Also known as the GAF scale, axis v provides a global assessment of the level of functioning and mental health of a patient, including psychological, social, and occupational functioning on a hypothetical continuum of mental illness to mental health, from 1 to 100, with 100 being the highest functioning.