ABSTRACT
The three-level model (3-LM) for observing patient transformations aims to observe and describe patient changes by examining the clinical material from diverse angles or perspectives. The 3-LM combines a phenomenological approach, intended to capture the uniqueness of each analytic experience, with a conceptualisation of the dimensions of patients’ changes, which allows a better description of patients’ transformations over the course of the analysis. The 3-LM adopted the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, version 2 (OPD-2) distinction between conflict and structure. The appearance of the OPD-2 and the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM) represented considerable progress in the field of psychoanalytic diagnostics. The OPD-2 has gone further than the PDM toward operationalising its definitions and assessing the reliability and validity of its diagnostic concepts. The PDM and the OPD-2 are multi-axial systems. They combine the categorial and dimensional approaches, meaning that they define various types of phenomena and intend to specify their degree or magnitude as well.
