DISTRIBUTION OF CATEGORIES AND PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF ON OPERATIONAL SYSTEM OF PSYCHODYNAMIC DIAGNOSIS - FIRST EXPERIENCES WITH OPD-1 IN THE FIELD OF INPATIENT PSYCHOTHERAPY

The paper describes the application of the system of ''operationalized psychodynamic diagnosis'' (OPD) which was developed in a multicentric effort during the recent years. The system is used for the classifica tion of videotape-recorded interviews with 30 patients prior to inpati ent psychotherapy. The classification system allows the diagnostic ass essment of the patients' illness behaviour, their interpersonal relati onships, their conflicts, psychic structure and their symptoms. The ai m of the study was a description of the patient group as well as a tes t of the relationship between diagnostic features and treatment outcom e following several months of inpatient group psychotherapy. The study confirms the practicability of the OPD-system and shows that the desc ription of the patient group seems to be plausible and valid. Single d iagnostic categories seem to be useful for the prognosis of treatment outcome, especially structural features, but also characteristics of t he patients' illness behaviour and their sensitivity for conflicts.