[The relationship between OPD features of personality structure and symptom-related and interpersonal outcome of inpatient psychotherapy].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prognostic relevance of the axis "structure" of operationalized psychodynamic diagnostics (OPD) with respect to the symptom-related and interpersonal outcome of inpatient psychotherapy by applying group comparisons as well as individual criteria.

METHODS: The structural level of 102 psychiatric inpatients was related to the general and dissociative psychopathology (SCL-90; FDS-20) as well as interpersonal problems (IIP) at the beginning and at the end of inpatient treatment.

RESULTS: There was a tendency toward an association between the structural level and psychopathological improvement. However, we did not find any clear relationship between structure and interpersonal difficulties either at the beginning or during the course of the treatment. The structural dimensions did not correlate with the reduction of psychopathology or interpersonal problems. From the patients perspective, however, overall personality structure, defence and object perception were important predictors for therapy success.

CONCLUSIONS: In correspondence with other studies our findings suggest that consistent predictions on therapy outcome in regards to psychopathology and interpersonal problems are not possible on the basis of the axis "structure". The possible implications for a differential therapy indication are discussed.