Borderline personality disorder is F60.3, and it is billable as written. Three other names land on the same code rather than having their own: emotionally unstable personality disorder — the term ICD-11 and much of the world outside the US uses — plus aggressive and explosive personality disorder. There is no severity character anywhere in F60, so unlike depression there is nothing to specify and no unspecified-versus-specified trap. Below: the F60 table, what that means for documentation, and the CPT pairings.
This page is billing and administrative reference. It describes what a code means and whether it can be submitted. It is not clinical advice and does not tell anyone what to diagnose.
ICD-10-CM lists three inclusion terms under this code:
None is a separate code. A record using any of these phrasings codes to F60.3.
| Code | Title | Billable? |
|---|---|---|
| F60 | Specific personality disorders (category header) | No |
| F60.0 | Paranoid personality disorder | Yes |
| F60.1 | Schizoid personality disorder | Yes |
| F60.2 | Antisocial personality disorder | Yes |
| F60.3 | Borderline personality disorder | Yes |
| F60.4 | Histrionic personality disorder | Yes |
| F60.5 | Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder | Yes |
| F60.6 | Avoidant personality disorder | Yes |
| F60.7 | Dependent personality disorder | Yes |
| F60.81 | Narcissistic personality disorder | Yes |
| F60.89 | Other specific personality disorders | Yes |
| F60.9 | Personality disorder, unspecified | Yes |
Two things worth noting. Narcissistic personality disorder is F60.81, one character longer than its neighbours, because it sits under F60.8 rather than beside F60.7. And obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is F60.5, not an F42 code — the two are different conditions and ICD-10-CM records the distinction under F42.
Nothing in F60 carries a severity character. There is no mild, moderate or severe borderline personality disorder in ICD-10-CM, and no more specific code to move to once F60.3 is chosen. That removes the commonest source of denials in other families — there is no under-specified code here to be challenged on.
It also means documentation does different work. The code cannot convey acuity, so where a payer asks for justification of intensity of service, that case is made in the note and the service codes rather than in the diagnosis.
DSM-5-TR prints F60.3 beside borderline personality disorder, so the mapping is direct. DSM-5 kept the categorical personality disorder criteria from DSM-IV in its main text, with an alternative dimensional model placed in Section III for further study; the alternative model does not change the code.
DSM-5 removed the multiaxial system, so personality disorders are no longer recorded on a separate axis. In practice that means F60.3 is submitted alongside any co-occurring diagnosis rather than in a different position on the claim — a change in convention that still catches out practices working from older templates.
| CPT | Service | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 90791 | Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation (no medical services) | — |
| 90832 | Individual psychotherapy | 16–37 minutes |
| 90834 | Individual psychotherapy | 38–52 minutes |
| 90837 | Individual psychotherapy | 53 minutes or more |
| 90847 | Family psychotherapy, patient present | 50 minutes typical |
| 90853 | Group psychotherapy | — |
A 50-minute session is 90834, not 90837 — 90837 begins at 53 minutes. CMS also sets a floor: psychotherapy under 16 minutes is not reported with these codes at all.
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Yes. F60.3 is a specific code and valid for submission. F60 on its own is a category header and is not.
F60.3. ICD-10-CM also lists emotionally unstable personality disorder, aggressive personality disorder and explosive personality disorder as inclusion terms under it.
F60.3, the same code as borderline personality disorder. ICD-10-CM treats it as an inclusion term rather than a separate diagnosis.
No. Nothing in the F60 family carries a severity character, so there is no mild, moderate or severe variant to code.
F60.81. It sits under F60.8 and is one character longer than the other personality disorder codes.
Check a code with Afia — freeCodes on this page were verified against the CMS ICD-10-CM code sets for FY2026 and FY2027 (FY2027 effective 1 October 2026). Last reviewed 19 September 2026. Verify against the current official code set before submitting.