Impulse Control D/o's and Adjustment D/o's

Impulse Control Disorders Not Elsewhere Identified

Intermittent Explosive D/o – failure to resist aggressive bx

Kleptomania – impulses to steal

Pyromania – deliberately sets things on fire

Pathological Gambling

Trichotillomania – pulling out of one’s hair

Impulse-Control D/o NOS

Adjustment Disorders

Development of emotional or behavioral symptoms in response to stressors occurring within 3 months of onset of stressor. Distress is in excess of what would be expected normally and impairs social or occupational functioning. It can have the following specifiers:

   Acute or Chronic

   With Depressed Mood

   With Anxiety

   With Mixed Anxiety and Depressed Mood

   With Disturbance of Conduct

   With Mixed Disturbance of Emotions and Conduct

   Unspecified

I don't know if it's appropriate or not, but I know that a lot of psychiatrists/psychologists/therapists diagnose adjustment disorder with one of the specifiers initially in order to prevent diagnosing with a more intense diagnoses that they might not meet criteria for. For example, diagnoses typically stay with the person for life and if you diagnose them with RAD or MDD or even Generalized Anxiety D/o, they are stuck with that. Adjustment disorder just states that they are going through a rough time and aren't able to get through it like most people can.

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnositc and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Text Revision, 4^th ed. Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers.