The Measurement of Personal Conflict

Personal conflict is considered to be an important factor in the development and psychotherapy of affective, behavioral, somatoform, and psychosomatic disorders. Yet empirical research into the role of personal conflict in psychopathology, and its change in therapy, is lacking. One reason for the lack of research may be the lack of objective methods for assessing ecologically valid, human conflicts. This article suggests that personal conflict can be assessed within a cognitive field that consists of attitudes, values, and beliefs pertaining to a personally relevant range of topics. In a validation study, degrees of conflict differed between groups of pre-treatment, post-treatment, and abstinent alcoholic patients and correlated with symptom severity. It is suggested that computerized conflict measurement be used for evaluating the effects of psychotherapy, directing therapists' attention to crucial, conflictual topics, attitudes and beliefs, and predicting the stability of dysfunctional attitudes and beliefs.