About the validity of the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics (OPD)

In this paper the validity of the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis S ystem is discussed. The discussion for each OPD axis is guided by the commo n scientific criteria like content-, criterion; and construct validity. Rel iability studies on OPD are summarized as an introduction to the validity i ssue. The studies show good to satisfying scores for interrater agreement f or the research context. The results derived from the validity studies supp ort the validity of the OPD system. There are also hints for improvements o f multiple categories or items within each axis. For clinical routine OPD s hould become even more practice oriented. Therefore the OPD task force inte nds to construct a shorter version which will base on the results discussed in this article.