Gaf Of 45 To 55

[mcso111]

I am reviewing my medical records from v.a. hosp and there are several insitances of a gaf either at 45 or 55, anyone know what this will relate to as what the rater would do being there is two different scores.

[MARINEVET]

Attached are the score areas I copied from the inter-net. Hope these help answer your question.

91-100 Superior functioning in a wide range of activities, life's problems never seem to get out of hand, is sought out by others because of his or her many qualities. No symptoms.

81-90 Absent or minimal symptoms, good functioning in all areas, interested and involved in a wide range of activities, socially effective, generally satisfied with life, no more than everyday problems or concerns.

71-80 If symptoms are present they are transient and expectable reactions to psychosocial stresses; no more than slight impairment in social, occupational, or school functioning.

61-70 Some mild symptoms OR some difficulty in social, occupational, or school functioning, but generally functioning pretty well, has some meaningful interpersonal relationships.

51-60 Moderate symptoms OR any moderate difficulty in social, occupational, or school functioning.

41-50 Serious symptoms OR any serious impairment in social, occupational, or school functioning.

31-40 Some impairment in reality testing or communication OR major impairment in several areas, such as work or school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood.

21-30 Behavior is considerably influenced by delusions or hallucinations OR serious impairment in communications or judgment OR inability to function in all areas.

11-20 Some danger of hurting self or others OR occasionally fails to maintain minimal personal hygiene OR gross impairment in communication.

1-10 Persistent danger of severely hurting self or others OR persistent inability to maintain minimum personal hygiene OR serious suicidal act with clear expectation of death.

0 Not enough information available to provide GAF.

I am reviewing my medical records from v.a. hosp and there are several insitances of a gaf either at 45 or 55, anyone know what this will relate to as what the rater would do being there is two different scores.

[spike]

I wanted to know this too as I looked at my records so I did some Q/A and research. Here is an example:

Let's say you had a flashback and had a fight with the significant other. You go to your room and what have you. You to get up in the middle of the night still feeling like crap. You go to the VA ER. Because let's say your not talking to people, you were having flash backs, nightmares, you started drinking, depressed, etc...having bad thoughts....GAF SCORE POSSIBLE 30.

After the ER, a good night's sleep after talking to the shrink, getting your med's properly dosed up....you love your girlfriend again, as you walk through the VA you find 100.00 bill on the ground nobody claims it.....your feeling great....the ER Pysch gives you a GAF Score of 100.

Here is my question to you...are you cured? No. Global Assessment of Functioning is subjective to the time, place and evaluation of the person who is evaluating how you feel. So two people in the same room at the same time seeing the same exact patient at the same exact time can come up with a different GAF score. Also according to the Diagnostic Criteria from DSM-IV-TR from the American Psychiatric Association indicates that GAF scores must consider pyschological, social and occupatioal functioning on a HYPOTHETICAL continuum of mental health-illness. It also says that they can not include your functioning due to phyiscal limitations...or disabilities....

So how much weight does a GAF score if it is "Hypothetical". If the scores range in 9pt increments how do they discriminate on scores from one being a 41 and a 46 where is the determining factor?

[Pete53]

GAF's are really estimates but over 50 usually 30% and under 50 can be up to 100%. This combined with working or not able to work of course. Plus other IMO's, medical records and showing a nexus to a service condition.

My advice is to not worry to much about GAF's they are hard to change unless you overwhelm with solid medical evidence and treatment.

The type of meds and strength given you by the VA is more relevant in my opinion

[Philip Rogers]

Most likely the rater would rate you at 10% or 30%. The late Alex Humphrey, an attorney and a great friend of vets and Hadit.com) used to say he could get anyone a 100% w/a GAF of 50%. Unfortunately he passed away a few months back. You "should" get at least 50%, if not 70% but what you should get and reality are different.

pr

[rentalguy1]

The GAF is but one small part of the overall rating. Don't read too much into the scores, because they can change from hour to hour, and from shrink to shrink. If they get higher than 55 consistently, though, that would mean that you are only marginally impaired and will get a low rating.

[mcso111]

Thanks everyone for your input, so what i am taking from this is that the gaf alone doesnt hold a lot of weight but the gaf mixed with other factors is what they will rate on. again thanks for everyone's input