The scales of psychological capacities: Measuring beyond symptoms.

The Scales of Psychological Capacities (SPC) are introduced as a new measure of structural change as the mode-specific effect of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The design and results of an interrater reliability study, a convergent and discriminant validity study with well-established construct-near and construct-distant measures, and a discriminant validity study with different diagnostic groups are presented. The results indicate substantial evidence that the SPC are a reliable and valid measure of psychic structure and, if their sensitivity to change is proven, are a suitable instrument for psychoanalytic process-outcome research.