The Problematic Object Representation Scales (PORS): a preliminary study to assess object relations in personality disorder through the AAI protocol

There has been an increasing interest in assessing object relations in individuals presenting with personality pathology. The present study describes the development of the Problematic Object Representation Scales (PORS), which were devised to assess dimensions of object representations through the Adult Attachment Interview protocol in an effort to integrate psychoanalytic and cognitive approaches. The results of this study have revealed that the PORS are able to distinguish patients with severe personality disorder both from patients with Axis I disorders and from healthy controls. Although the PORS have been shown to be a reliable and promising instrument, further validation of the scales is needed before they can become a valuable research tool for the assessment of object relations in personality pathology.