Are a form of specifier in diagnosis Ex: Mild, moderate, severe in Major Depressive Disorder.

• A. Subtypes
• B. Specifiers
• C. Severity
• D. Onset

Answer: (C)

The main idea is that diagnoses can be refined with specifiers that add detail beyond the base disorder. For Major Depressive Disorder, describing how intense the current episode is—using levels like mild, moderate, or severe—is a standard severity specifier. It communicates the degree of symptoms and impairment, which is exactly what “severity” is meant to convey in diagnostic coding. Subtypes refer to different symptom patterns or clusters, such as melancholic or atypical features, which is a different kind of refinement. Onset describes when the disorder began, not how severe it is. So the best fit for indicating the level of intensity is severity.