The OPD-CA-2 axis interpersonal relations: A helpful tool for treatment planning? Relationship patterns of adolescent patients with persistent intrapsychic conflicts, structural deficits and trauma sequelae disorders

The axis interpersonal relations of the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis in Childhood and Adolescence (OPD-CA-2; OPD-CA-2 Task Force, OPD-CA-2. Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis in Childhood and Adolescence. Theoretical Basis and User Manual. Hogrefe, 2017) allows to describe how children and adolescents handle relationships both with relevant attachment figures (e.g., parents) and with the examiner in a standardized way. In the current study, the axis interpersonal relations was used in an inpatient adolescent sample. The aim of the study was to identify typical relationship patterns depending on the patients’ structural level. By inspecting the relationship patterns of all ratings, we identified three groups of patients: The first group included patients with a limited structural level and clearly recognizable intrapsychic conflict dynamics (“focus: conflict”), the second group included patients with a low structural level (“focus: structure”), and the third group included patients who had been exposed to severe traumatic experiences with relevant attachment figures (“focus: trauma”). The relationship characteristics of these three groups were described and illustrated by prototypical cases. Conclusions for clinical practice were discussed as well.