Psychodiagnostic Chart-3 (PDC-3)
The Operationalized PDM-3 - Adult version © 2025 Robert M. Gordon and Robert F. Bornstein
Name/Code: _________________________________________ Age: _______ Gender: ________
Ethnicity/Nationality: _______________Date of Evaluation: ____/______/____Evaluator:_____________________
Section I: Level of Personality Organization
Use these four domains of functioning to efficiently capture a person's level of personality
organization. Rate each domain on a scale from 1 (Severely impaired) to 10 (Healthy).
Severe Moderate Healthy
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. Identity: ability to view self in complex, stable, and accurate ways ____
2. Object Relations: ability to maintain intimate, stable, and mutually satisfying relationships ____
3. Level of Defenses: (using the guide below, select a single number) ____
1-2: Psychotic level (delusional projection, psychotic denial, psychotic distortion)
3-5: Borderline level (splitting, projective identification, idealization/devaluation, denial, acting out)
6-8: Neurotic level (repression, reaction formation, intellectualization, displacement, undoing)
9-10: Healthy level (anticipation, self-assertion, sublimation, suppression, altruism, and humor)
4. Reality Testing: ability to appreciate conventional notions of what is realistic ____
Overall Personality Organization
Considering the ratings and your clinical judgment, circle your client’s overall personality organization.
Psychotic Borderline Neurotic Healthy
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Healthy Personality- characterized mostly by 9-10 scores, life problems rarely get out of hand and enough flexibility to
accommodate to challenging realities. (Use “9” for people at the high functioning neurotic level.)
Neurotic Level- characterized mostly by 6-8 scores, basically a good sense of identity, good reality testing, mostly good intimacies,
fair resiliency, fair affect tolerance and regulation, rigidity and limited range of defenses and coping mechanisms, favors defenses
such as repression, reaction formation, intellectualization, displacement, and undoing. (Use “6” for people who vary between
borderline and neurotic levels.)
Borderline Level- characterized mostly by 3-5 scores, recurrent relational problems, difficulty with affect tolerance and regulation,
poor impulse control, poor sense of identity, poor resiliency, favors defenses such as splitting, projective identification,
idealization/devaluation, denial, omnipotent control, and acting out.
Psychotic Level- characterized mostly by 1-2 scores, delusional thinking, poor reality testing and mood regulation, extreme
difficulty functioning in work and relationships favors defenses such as delusional projection, psychotic denial, and psychotic
distortion. (Use “3” for people who vary between psychotic and borderline levels.)
(There are no sharp cutoffs between categories. Use your clinical judgment.)
Section II: Personality Styles/Disorders (P-Axis)
These are relatively stable patterns of thinking, feeling, behaving and relating to others. Normal
level personality patterns do not involve impairment, while personality styles or disorders
involve impairments from mild to severe at the neurotic, borderline, or psychotic levels.
For clinical purposes, check as many personality styles/disorders as apply from the list below,
and then circle the one or two personality styles/disorders that are most dominant. Leave blank if
none. For research purposes, rate the level of all the personality styles/disorders using a 1-5
scale: 1 = Severe Level; 3 = Moderate Severity; and 5 = High Functioning.
Level of Severity Level of Severity
q Depressive ___ q Hysteric-Histrionic ___
Subtypes: Subtypes:
introjective inhibited
anaclitic demonstrative
hypomanic
q Narcissistic ___
q Masochistic (Self-Defeating) ___ Subtypes:
overt
q Dependent/Dependent-Victimized ___ covert
Subtypes:
malignant
passive-aggressive
counterdependent
q Paranoid ___
q Anxious/ Avoidant/ Phobic ___
Subtype: q Psychopathic ___
counterphobic Subtypes:
passive-parasitic, con-artist
q Obsessive-Compulsive ___ aggressive
q Schizoid ___ q Sadistic ___
q Somatizing ___ q Emotionally Dysregulated ___
Section III: Mental Functioning (M-Axis)
Rate your client’s level of strength or weakness on each of the 13 mental functions below, on a
scale from 1 to 5 (1 = Severe deficits; 5 = Healthy). Then sum the 13 ratings for an overall score.
Severe Defects Major Impairments Moderate Impairments Mild Impairments Healthy
1 2 3 4 5
A. Cognitive and affective processes
1. Capacity for attention and learning (executive functioning) ____
2. Capacity for affect regulation and expression ____
3. Capacity for mentalization ____
B. Identity and relationships
4. Bodily experiences and representations ____
5. Capacity for differentiation and integration ____
6. Capacity to regulate self-esteem ____
7. Capacity for trust, empathy, and intimacy ____
C. Defense and coping
8. Capacity for impulse regulation ____
9. Defensive functioning ____
10. Capacity for adaptation and resilience ____
D. Self-awareness and self-direction
11. Capacity to construct and use internal standards and ideals ____
12. Capacity to explore one’s inner life ____
13. Capacity for agency and purpose ____
Overall level of mental functioning (Sum of 13 mental functions): ____/65
Healthy/Optimal Mental Functioning 58-65; Appropriate Mental Functioning with Some Areas
of Difficulty 51-57; Mild Impairments in Mental Functioning 43-50; Moderate Impairments in
Mental Functioning 36-42; Major Impairments in Mental Functioning 28-35; Significant Defects
in Basic Mental Functions 21-27; Major/Severe Defects in Basic Mental Functions 13-20.
Section IV: Symptom Patterns (S-Axis)
List the main PDM-3 symptom patterns along with the most relevant/impaired domain of
subjective experience (i.e., affective states, cognitive patterns, somatic states, and relationship
patterns). If applicable, rate the level of severity of symptomatic patterns. Leave blank if none.
Severe Moderate Mild
1 2 3 4 5
Symptom/Most Impaired Domain: ___________________________________ Level:____
Symptom/ Most Impaired Domain: ___________________________________ Level: ____
Symptom/ Most Impaired Domain: ___________________________________ Level: ____
Symptom/ Most Impaired Domain: ___________________________________ Level: ____
Section V: Psychological Experiences that May Require Clinical Attention, or Other
Cultural, Contextual and Additional Relevant Considerations
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