DSM-IV: Chronic Specifier for Mood Disorders

Criteria for Chronic Specifier
(cautionary statement)  

Specify if: 

Chronic (can be applied to the current or most recent Major Depressive Episode in Major Depressive Disorder and to a Major Depressive Episode in Bipolar I or II Disorder only if it is the most recent type of mood episode) 

Full criteria for a Major Depressive Episode have been met continuously for at least the past 2 years.

Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth Edition. Copyright 1994 American Psychiatric Association