This article just enrages me. Medication should never be the first solution, nor should one implement a test such as GAF. Luckily that crap has been dropped from the DSM5, along with the multiaxial system. The rationale for dropping the GAF was twofold:   1) there was lack of conceptual clarity such as including suicide risk and disabilities in the description and 2) questionable psychometrics in routine practice. The authors of the DSM5 recommend using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS, version 2.0) to produce a global assessment of functioning. There isn’t enough research to see how this will effect individuals. I believe as long as we come from different cultural and racial backgrounds, the first few assessment should be based on what I like to call TOLL©: Talking, Observing , Listening and Learning. This is mindfulness intervention treatment should focus on the symptoms of the patient (such as stress, worry, habit, etc.) and direct attention on treating those specific symptoms instead of medicating based a subjective evaluations.