The Adjective Check List as an outcome measure: Assessment of personality change in psychotherapy

To investigate the value of the Adjective Check List (ACL) as a psychotherapy outcome measure, the ACL and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) were administered at four times (before therapy, immediately after therapy, and at 6-month and 1-year follow-ups) to 38 patients in brief dynamic psychotherapy. High correlations between selected ACL scales and SCL-90-R Global Severity Index scores (GSI) were found. GSI change from before to after therapy correlated with change on the ACL scales. Changes from before to after therapy were detected for ACL scales at both the mean group and the individual levels. Because the ACL provides valuable information on personality dimensions as well as concurrent levels of distress, it is a particularly promising psychotherapy outcome measure.