What is GAF in psychology?

In psychology, GAF stands for Global Assessment of Functioning, which was a 0 to 100 scale used to rate a person's overall psychological, social, and occupational functioning. GAF was introduced in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Third Edition Revised and was prominently featured on Axis V of the multiaxial system in DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR, which were the main diagnostic manuals used by psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists from the 1990s until 2013. The GAF scale provided a single number summarizing a clinician's judgment about a client's functioning level. The scale was divided into 10-point intervals with descriptive anchors. For example, 91 to 100 indicated superior functioning with no symptoms and many positive traits, 71 to 80 indicated transient symptoms that are expected reactions to stress, 51 to 60 indicated moderate symptoms like flat affect or moderate difficulty in social or work functioning, 31 to 40 indicated major impairment in reality testing or communication, and 1 to 10 indicated persistent danger of hurting self or others or inability to maintain hygiene. GAF was used for treatment planning, measuring progress, and for insurance and disability decisions. It was criticized for being subjective, combining symptoms and functioning in one score, and having poor reliability between different clinicians. Because of these limitations, the American Psychiatric Association removed GAF from DSM-5 in 2013 and recommended WHODAS 2.0 as replacement.