OVERALL MATURITY OF OBJECT RELATIONS AS ASSESSED BY THE MCGILL OBJECTRELATIONS SCALE

The McGill Object Relations Scale (MORS) is an instrument for assessin g levels of drive-based object relations along a continuum of position s representative of psychosexual development. Its theoretical foundati ons as well as empirical antecedents are presented, and its rating pro cedure is demonstrated through a case application. The MORS was applie d, by five experienced psychiatrists, to 67 adult patients seeking psy choanalytic psychotherapy, in order to assess interrater reliability, internal structure, and construct validity. Results indicate that over all maturity of object relations stems from structural indices of self -object differentiation determined by a particular configuration of ma ny positions, rather than from the thematic aspects included in the in dividual psychosexual positions.