GAF

The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) is a clinician-rated numeric scale (0–100) used to assess the overall social, occupational, and psychological functioning of an individual. It was introduced as Axis V of the DSM-IV multiaxial system. Higher scores reflect better functioning: 91–100 indicates superior functioning with no symptoms, while scores below 30 reflect serious impairment including inability to function in almost all areas. Although the GAF was removed from DSM-5 in favor of the WHODAS 2.0, it remains widely used in psychedelic research as a measure of global clinical improvement. The GAF is valued for its simplicity and ability to capture overall treatment response in a single number, though it has been criticized for conflating symptom severity with functional impairment.