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Assessing psychopathology from a structural perspective: A psychodynamic model
Frank Trimboli1, Rycke L Marshall, Charles W Keenan
1Department of Psychiatry, Division of Psychology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, USA. frank.trimboli@verizon.net
Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic
|May 24, 2013
Summary
This guide offers a psychodynamic framework for understanding psychological disorders by assessing seven personality functioning indices. This helps categorize patients along a severity continuum for better treatment planning.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Psychological difficulties encompass a wide range of personality and symptom disorders.
- A structured approach is needed for accurate conceptualization and treatment planning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a psychodynamic model for organizing personality and symptom disorders.
- To establish a continuum of severity based on key personality functioning indices.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing a psychodynamic model to organize disorders.
- Evaluating seven key indices of personality functioning: cognition, affect, self-object relations, interpersonal relations, defenses, superego functioning, and primary dynamics.
- Placing patients within nine diagnostic categories of ego development.
Main Results:
- The model organizes disorders along a structural continuum of severity.
- Nine diagnostic categories of ego development are proposed, ranging from normal to psychotic.
- Accurate evaluation of the seven variables allows for precise formulation of difficulties.
Conclusions:
- This model facilitates a more precise formulation of psychological difficulties.
- Improved formulation leads to more accurate and appropriate treatment planning.
- The guide provides practical application examples for common symptom complaints.
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