For Major Depressive Disorder:
1. The first three digits are 296.
2. The fourth digit is either 2 (if there is only a single Major Depressive Episode) or 3 (if there are recurrent Major Depressive Episodes).
3. The fifth digit indicates the severity of the current Major Depressive Episode if full criteria are met as follows: 1 for Mild severity, 2 for Moderate severity, 3 for Severe Without Psychotic Features, 4 for Severe With Psychotic Features. If full criteria are not currently met for a Major Depressive Episode, the fifth digit indicates the current clinical status of the Major Depressive Disorder as follows: 5 for In Partial Remission, 6 for In Full Remission. If current severity or clinical status is unspecified, the fifth digit is 0.
For Bipolar I Disorder:
1. The first three digits are also 296.
2. The fourth digit is 0 if there is a single Manic Episode. For recurrent episodes, the fourth digit indicates the nature of the current episode (or, if the Bipolar I Disorder is currently in partial or full remission, the nature of the most recent episode) as follows: 4 if the current or most recent episode is a Hypomanic Episode or a Manic Episode, 6 if it is a Mixed Episode, 5 if it is a Major Depressive Episode, and 7 if the current or most recent episode is Unspecified.
3. The fifth digit (except for Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Hypomanic, and Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Unspecified) indicates the severity of the current episode if full criteria are met for a Manic, Mixed, or Major Depressive Episode as follows: 1 for Mild severity, 2 for Moderate severity, 3 for Severe Without Psychotic Features, 4 for Severe With Psychotic Features. If full criteria are not met for a Manic, Mixed, or Major Depressive Episode, the fifth digit indicates the current clinical status of the Bipolar I Disorder as follows: 5 for In Partial Remission, 6 for In Full Remission. If current severity or clinical status is unspecified, the fifth digit is 0. For Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Hypomanic, the fifth digit is always 0. For Bipolar Disorder, Most Recent Episode Unspecified, there is no fifth digit.
For Bipolar II Disorder, the diagnostic code is 296.89.
Recording the name of the diagnosis. In recording the name of a diagnosis, terms should be listed in the following order:
1. Name of disorder (e.g., Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder)
2. Specifiers coded in the fourth digit (e.g., Recurrent, Most Recent Episode Manic)
3. Specifiers coded in the fifth digit (e.g., Mild, Severe With Psychotic Features, In Partial Remission)
4. As many specifiers (without codes) as apply to the current or most recent episode (e.g., With Melancholic Features, With Postpartum Onset)
5. As many specifiers (without codes) as apply to the course of recurrent episodes (e.g., With Seasonal Pattern, With Rapid Cycling)
The following examples illustrate how to record a Mood Disorder diagnosis with specifiers:
• 296.32 Major Depressive Disorder, Recurrent, Moderate, With Atypical Features, With Seasonal Pattern, With Full Interepisode Recovery
• 296.54 Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Depressed, Severe With Psychotic Features, With Melancholic Features, With Rapid Cycling
