highfunctioning means what?

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Mental retardation is in Axis II.

Let's list the DSM-IV axes here:

Axis I: Psychiatric diagnoses including mental, developmental and learning disorders (e.g. depression/bipolar, anxiety, schizophrenia, ADHD, autism)
Axis II: Personality disorders and mental retardation
Axis III: Other medical diagnoses (e.g. diabetes type 2)
Axis IV: Psychosocial and environmental factors (e.g. in prison, on welfare)
Axis V: Global assessment of functioning

I think Axis V refers more on the high- and low-functioning levels. People with other disorders (e.g. borderline personality disorder) also use this "high-" or "low-functioning" labels too.

There are huge controversies about the Axis II disorders. The way they put personality disorders on a separate axis can lead to double stigmatization.

I think so, too, if there is to be a distinction at all. But then where would one put the line? And besides, onés GAF score is really arbitrary, eg. if you have poor hygiene, you get a low GAF score, while with poor hygiene you may function academically/occupationally at a level highewr than when you dont'have problems with hygiene. Same with some impairments in communication, when you intrinsically have a lower GAF score.



The reasoning behind this is that personality disorders and mental retardation are presumed to be life-long, pervasive, hard-to-treat disorders, while axis I disorders are more treatable and less pervasive and long-lasting. If this distinction needs to be made at all, IMO, I think autism spectrum disorders should be on axis II, where they used to be in DSM-III.