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Mental health and psychic structure: an empirical study
1Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic
|November 12, 1998
Summary
Psychic structure significantly relates to mental health, explaining 44% of its variance. This research supports a general factor linking psychic structure and mental health, with a distinct psychic structure component.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Psychodynamic theory emphasizes psychic structure and its changes in treatment.
- Empirical validation of psychic structure distinct from symptoms and functioning remains challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between psychic structure and mental health.
- To determine if psychic structure measures are distinct from general mental health indicators.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Health-Sickness Rating Scale (HSRS) for mental health assessment.
- Employed Kernberg's personality organization (PO) and Wallerstein's Scales of Psychological Capacities (PSYCAP) for psychic structure assessment.
- Conducted correlational and multiple regression analyses on data from 124 patients.
Main Results:
- Found substantial interrelations between mental health and psychic structure.
- Psychic structure, assessed by both PO and PSYCAP, explained 44% of the variance in HSRS scores.
- Evidence suggests a general factor of mental health and psychic structure, alongside a pure psychic structure component.
Conclusions:
- Psychic structure is a significant correlate of mental health.
- Findings support the construct validity of psychic structure measures.
- Further research into factor-analytic models of mental health and psychic structure is warranted.
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