The three axis V scales can be scored reliably. The Global Assessment of Relational Functioning Scale and the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale evaluate different constructs. These findings support the validity of the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale as a scale of global psychopathology; the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale as a measure of problems in social, occupational, and interpersonal functioning; and the Global Assessment of Relational Functioning Scale as an index of personality pathology. The authors discuss further refinement and use of the three axis V measures in treatment research.

Objective: To investigate the psychiatric symptomatology and personality characteristics of Korean senior high school students considered to use the Internet to excess. Method: We administered a questionnaire packet to students that included 4 measures. These measures included a questionnaire on Internet use patterns during the previous month, the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF). A total of 328 students, aged 15 to 19 years, participated in the study. Results: Students were divided into 4 Internet user groups according to their IAT total scores: nonusers ( n = 59, 18.0%), minimal users ( n = 155, 47.3%), moderate users ( n = 98, 29.9%), and excessive users ( n = 16, 4.9%). The SCL-90-R showed that the excessive users group, when compared with the other groups in this study, reported the highest levels of symptomatology. The 16PF also revealed that excessive users were easily affected by feeling, emotionally less stable, imaginative, absorbed in thought, self-sufficient, experimenting, and preferred their own decisions. Conclusions: This study suggests that senior high school students who use the Internet to excess report and subsequently exhibit significantly more psychiatric symptoms than students who use the Internet less frequently. In addition, excessive users appear to have a distinctive personality profile when compared with nonusers, minimal, and moderate users.

Utilizing a collaborative therapeutic assessment (TA) model proposed by Finn and Tonsager (1997), we examined the interaction between therapeutic alliance and in-session process during the assessment phase of treatment. This study compares the utility of the TA model (n = 38) versus a traditional information gathering model (n = 90) of assessment. The results of this study indicate that the use of a TA model may decrease the number of patients who terminate treatment against medical advice. The Session Evaluation Questionnaire (Stiles & Snow, 1984), Combined Alliance Short Form (Hatcher & Barends, 1996), and Penn Helping Alliance Questionnaire-Revised (Barber & Crits-Christoph, 1996) can reliably measure the patient's experience of the assessment. The psychological assessment process may impact the patient's experience of assessment feedback and aid in the development of a therapeutic alliance. The therapeutic alliance developed during the assessment was found to be related to alliance early in psychotherapy. We discuss the theoretical, clinical, and research implications of these findings.

This study investigates the effectiveness of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) for depression in a naturalistic setting utilizing a hybrid effectiveness/efficacy treatment research model. Twenty-one patients were assessed pre- and post-treatment through clinician ratings and patient self-report on scales representing specific DSM-IV depressive, global symptomatology, relational, social, and occupational functioning. Treatment credibility, fidelity, and satisfaction were examined, all of which were found to be high. All areas of functioning assessed exhibited significant and positive changes. These adaptive changes in functioning demonstrated large statistical effects. Likewise, changes in depressive symptoms evaluated at the patient level utilizing clinical significance methodology were found to be high. A significant direct process/outcome link between STPP therapist techniques and changes in depressive symptoms was observed. Alternative treatment interventions within STPP were evaluated in relation to subsequent improvements in depression and were found to be nonsignificant. The present results demonstrate that robust statistical and clinically significant improvement can occur in a naturalistic/hybrid model of outpatient STPP for depression.