P Bjorklund1. 1. School of Nursing, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO, USA. pbjorkl732@aol.com
Abstract
TOPIC: The reexamination of ego function from the perspective of ego strength rather than ego deficit. PURPOSE: To promote the assessment of ego strength as a valuable skill for nurse psychotherapists, and to underscore the importance of ego strength as a relevant construct for both assessment and psychotherapy outcome measurement. SOURCES: The literature of modern psychoanalysis and ego psychology, Bellak's research on ego function, Parse's nursing theory, and the nursing literature on ego assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Identifying and assessing ego strength helps nurse psychotherapists locate clients on a developmental continuum, suggests a place to join with the client at the inception of therapy, and provides data to develop therapeutic goals.
TOPIC: The reexamination of ego function from the perspective of ego strength rather than ego deficit. PURPOSE: To promote the assessment of ego strength as a valuable skill for nurse psychotherapists, and to underscore the importance of ego strength as a relevant construct for both assessment and psychotherapy outcome measurement. SOURCES: The literature of modern psychoanalysis and ego psychology, Bellak's research on ego function, Parse's nursing theory, and the nursing literature on ego assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Identifying and assessing ego strength helps nurse psychotherapists locate clients on a developmental continuum, suggests a place to join with the client at the inception of therapy, and provides data to develop therapeutic goals.