Which term describes the course or pattern of symptoms over time?

• A. Severity
• B. Duration
• C. Timing
• D. Context

Answer: (C)

Timing describes the course or pattern of symptoms over time. It captures when symptoms begin, how often they occur, and how they change—whether they progress, remit, recur, or fluctuate. This is different from severity, which reflects how intense the symptom feels at a moment, and duration, which is how long a single episode lasts. Context refers to the surrounding circumstances or triggers rather than the temporal pattern. For example, a headache that starts in the morning, occurs several times a day, and gradually worsens over a week illustrates timing by outlining the temporal course.