[Structure and structural disorder]

One of the central tasks of psychodynamic diagnosis, next to determining intrapsychic conflicts, central relational patterns, and subjective forms of experiencing is assessing the psychic structure or the structural disorder. This article develops the structure term from object relationship theoretical, ego-psychological, and self-psychological concepts of psychoanalysis. This "Structure of the self in the relationship to others" thus obtained is described with six structural criteria (self-perception, self-control, defence, object perception, communication, attachment). In order to be able to distinguish the extent and the quality of structural disorders four structure levels of integration based on psychoanalytic experience in the out-patient and the in-patient setting are differentiated. A basis for an operationalization is then made; it is made in the system OPD (Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics). First studies regarding practicalibility and reliability are promising.