Part II of this paper presents an outline for the assessment of suitability for psychotherapy based on the patient's ability to participate in the basic tasks of the therapeutic process and provides a coherent approach to this complex and difficult task. Several factors, such as therapeutic interaction and relational history, influencing the patient's ability to form a productive working relationship can be assessed clinically and are well supported by research. Others, such as motivation and supportive life circumstances, although less supported by research, still appear to be clinically important. Influences on the ability to create a model of the patient's psychopathology, such as introspection, circumscribed focus, and some aspects of the model itself, are supported by limited research but important for some therapies. There is little research on trial interventions, though these remain a crucial assessment dimension for short-term therapies, particularly. Countertransference, although traditionally not viewed as part of assessment, is actually an important tool that has been validated by research.

Part I of this paper reviews the value of detailed psychotherapy-suitability assessments using criteria independent of illness severity. False-positive and false-negative determinations of suitability are minimized along with the associated problems. These assessments must be done by psychotherapists, and they typically take several sessions. An assessment process based on three components--diagnosis and the traditional history, creation of a model of the patient's psychopathology, and the use suitability criteria (reviewed in detail in part II)--is described. The value of diagnosis is discussed using the two most common ones of depression and personality disorder, along with the implications for the prescription of psychotherapy.

A relational model of the influence of childhood relationships on adult marital quality is proposed and tested in a family medical centre and a psychiatric outpatient population by a questionnaire of separation experiences, the Parental Bonding Instrument and the Locke-Wallace Short Marital Adjustment Test. This paper presents results from a psychiatric outpatient population that correspond with previously reported results on the family medical centre patients. The paper also presents data from both populations on the association of childhood separation experiences with adult marital quality. The presence or absence of self-reported childhood separation experiences was not associated with variations of marital quality in either population. The variation in other aspects of separation experiences similarly was not associated with marital quality. The association between representations of childhood experience and adult marital quality, found in a previous study of the family medical centre patients, was not found in the psychiatric outpatient population. The possible reasons for these findings are discussed.