Concept of ego strength in psychotherapy.

The concept is discussed of how ego strength and equivalent dimensions of the term have been developed by well known contributors to psychotherapeutic literature and theory. A case is made for the translation of these dimensions, which include motivation and psychological mindedness, into operational terms and into items which are descriptive of the notion of personal and social competence. This has been done to provide guidelines for the assessment of patients for an optimal psychotherapy. A rationale for the inclusion for each item is constructed from the observations of experienced psychotherapists and research workers.