A clinical guide to assessing level of ego development using psychological testing

Abstract

This article presents a clinical guide for relating psychological test findings from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 and Rorschach Technique to various levels of ego development. The original three validity and 10 clinical scales from the MMPI and a selected group of traditional determinants from the Rorschach are employed. Expected testing results from these instruments are derived from both the authors' clinical experience and the research literature. These results are presented along a continuum of nine levels of ego development and their associated disorders. The nine levels of ego development are “normal” neurotic, neurotic trait, and neurotic symptom organization; high-, mid-, and low-level borderline organization; and affective, cognitive-affective, and cognitive psychotic organization. The relationships between typical testing responses and indices of personality functioning at each level of ego development would hopefully facilitate accurate diagnosis, which in turn would result in more effective treatment planning.