[Ego function rating by the specialist working alone in neurology and psychiatry]

Bellak and coworkers' "Ego-Function" rating was performed at a neuropsychiatric outpatients department by having an interview that was recorded once on tape analyzed by the same rater at intervals of 16 +/- 6 months using an estimation scale divided into seven main points. The result shows a high degree of uniformity in assessing the following functions: Reality testing, judgement, feeling for reality of oneself and the world, control of drives and affects, relationship to objects, ability to think, use of fantasy for solving problems, protection from stimuli, defence function, autonomic function, synthetic integrative function and feeling of competence. The most important result is that the rating can be used to good effect by neurologists and psychiatrists working alone.