DSM criteria for psychosis nos

[Kaysmom8]

Hi,

Does anyone know where I can find the dsm specific criteria for psychosis nos 298.9 online or if anyone has an actual dsm book and could help me out I would appreciate it. I've tried looking online but this is for a psych assessment paper worth a grade so I don't want to put the wrong thing. Is the criteria listed under schizophrenia because the symptoms need to be present for 6 months before it's considered schizophrenia? My psych book lists psychosis as induced or secondary in the same chapter as schizophrenia. My patient has a family history of schizophrenia but I was told she is psychosis nos because they could not validate that she has had these symptoms (from family or medical records) for at least 6 months although she has all of the classic precursor sings of schizophrenia.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

298.9 is the diagnostic code of the ICD-9 for Psychosis NOS. The ICD-9 is different than the DSM though they may actually use the same codes.

NOS means not otherwise specified. Schizophrenia is a SPECIFIED type of psychosis and there are further specifications as to the type of schizophrenia. When an NOS diagnosis is used it is often because the person clearly has a mental illness but lacks a specific criteria to make the more specific diagnosis.

For example, EDNOS would be the official diagnosis for a woman who would be otherwise diagnosed with anorexia but still has her period. Amenorrhea is one of the specific criteria for a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (I believe this is being changed in DSM-V though).

It sounds like for your patient, she cannot be officially diagnosed with schizophrenia because they cannot confirm that symptoms have been present for 6 months. According to the DSM, "continuous signs of the disturbance must be present for six months" for a diagnosis of schizophrenia to be made:

DSM-IV Criteria for Schizophrenia :: DNA Learning Center (see slide 2).

There should be a hard copy of the DSM-IV at your clinical placement site. DSM-V is either due to be published very soon or was just recently published.

[pinkiepieRN]

If the patient has not had the symptoms for 6 months, I believe it can be classified as schizophreniform disorder. Schizophreniform Disorder Symptoms | Psych Central