Psychology Roots 309
Axis
- In DSM–IV–TR, any of the dimensions that are helpful for describing individual behavior and thus facilitate clinical assessment. DSM–IV–TR (but not DSM–5) uses a multiaxial classification based on five axes: clinical disorders (Axis I), personality disorders and mental retardation (Axis II), general medical conditions (Axis III), psychosocial and environmental problems (Axis IV), and global assessment of functioning (Axis V).
- An imaginary line that bisects the body or an organ in a particular plane. For example, the long or (cephalocaudal) axis runs in the median plane, dividing the body into right and left halves.
- The second cervical vertebra, on which the skull rotates.
- A system made up of interrelated parts, as in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis.
- A fixed reference line in a coordinate system. See also abscissa; ordinate.
