While understanding how internalized representations of others (i.e., object relations) change over the course of treatment is essential for treatment planning and evaluation of progress, few studies have examined the nature of these changes through repeated psychological assessments. In this study, we applied the SCORS-G to Thematic Apperception Test narratives for 61 adult patients with complex psychiatric problems undergoing residential treatment over an 18-month period. Over the course of treatment, patient representations of self and others became more complex, indicating improvements in mentalization. Further, an analysis of default ratings (i.e., an aspect of story ‘blandness’) suggested that certain shifts in SCORS-G dimensional scores over time were accounted for by greater degree of scorable content across time points, rather than changes specific to the dimensions themselves. Findings from novel exploratory analyses aimed at evaluating the test–retest reliability of both default rating proportion and several emerging alternative scoring approaches (including changes in minimum, maximum and range of scores on individual dimensions) are reported. While the magnitude of change across mean dimensional scores was found to be lower compared to those previously found in outpatient populations, our results suggest that the SCORS-G remains capable of detecting changes in mentalization capacities in individuals contending with longstanding, severe psychiatric impairment and personality-based psychopathology. Implications for treatment, assessment and future research are discussed.

中文翻译：

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社会认知和客体关系量表的纵向稳定性——临床样本中的全局评分方法维度评分、分数范围和叙述“平淡”

虽然了解他人的内在表征（即客体关系）如何在治疗过程中发生变化对于治疗计划和进展评估至关重要，但很少有研究通过重复的心理评估来检查这些变化的性质。在这项研究中，我们将 SCORS-G 应用于 61 名患有复杂精神问题的成年患者在 18 个月内接受住院治疗的主题统觉测试叙述。在治疗过程中，患者对自己和他人的表征变得更加复杂，表明心理化有所改善。此外，对默认评分的分析（即故事“平淡”的一个方面）表明，随着时间的推移，SCORS-G 维度分数的某些变化是由跨时间点的更大程度的可评分内容解释的，而不是特定于维度本身的更改。报告了旨在评估默认评级比例和几种新兴替代评分方法（包括各个维度的最小、最大和分数范围的变化）的重测可靠性的新探索性分析的结果。虽然发现平均维度分数的变化幅度低于之前在门诊人群中发现的变化幅度，但我们的结果表明，SCORS-G 仍然能够检测与长期严重精神障碍和人格抗争的个体的心智化能力变化-基于精神病理学。讨论了对治疗、评估和未来研究的影响。报告了旨在评估默认评级比例和几种新兴替代评分方法（包括各个维度的最小、最大和分数范围的变化）的重测可靠性的新探索性分析的结果。虽然发现平均维度分数的变化幅度低于之前在门诊人群中发现的变化幅度，但我们的结果表明，SCORS-G 仍然能够检测与长期严重精神障碍和人格抗争的个体的心智化能力变化-基于精神病理学。讨论了对治疗、评估和未来研究的影响。报告了旨在评估默认评级比例和几种新兴替代评分方法（包括各个维度的最小、最大和分数范围的变化）的重测可靠性的新探索性分析的结果。虽然发现平均维度分数的变化幅度低于之前在门诊人群中发现的变化幅度，但我们的结果表明，SCORS-G 仍然能够检测与长期严重精神障碍和人格抗争的个体的心智化能力变化-基于精神病理学。讨论了对治疗、评估和未来研究的影响。