Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manuals' 

Psychodiagnostic Charts 

A Practical Tool to Operationalize the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manuals 

                                        Copyright 2012, 2015, 2025  Robert M. Gordon and Robert F. Bornstein

 All the versions of the PDC are free use.

Use: The Psychodiagnostic Chart (PDC) was developed in 2012 by Robert M. Gordon and Robert F. Borstein to codify the highly complex Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM).  They later updated the PDC (Gordon and Bornstein, 2018) for the PDM-2 (Lingiardi & McWilliams, Eds., 2017) and the PDM-3 (Lingiardi & McWilliams, Eds., 2025) . The PDC-2 and PDC-3 are quick practitioner rating forms that may be used for diagnoses, treatment formulations, progress reports, and outcome assessment, as well as for empirical research on personality. They can be used when the person is not available and assessment is instead based on documents, records, collateral interviews, or other sources of information. Research by Gordon and Stoffey (2014) and Gordon and Bornstein (2018) show excellent validity and reliability. The PDC methodology was made to be easily updated along with the changes to the PDM without a need for additional validity research. Additionally, several other studies support the clinical utility and validity of the PDCs (see references below). 

The PDC assesses:

Section I·  Level of Personality Organization (Healthy, Neurotic, Borderline or Psychotic). The PDM-2 describes the Level of Personality Organization as, “At the healthy end... they can engage in satisfying relationships, experience and understand a relatively full range of age-expected feelings and thoughts, function with relative flexibly when stressed by external  or internal conflict, maintain a relatively coherent sense of personal identity, express impulses in a manner appropriate to the situation, conduct themselves in accordance with internalized moral values, and neither suffer undue distress or impose it on others” (p.17-18).

Section II·  13 Personality Styles/Disorders (P-Axis: Depressive, Masochistic, Dependent, Anxious, Obsessive-Compulsive, Schizoid, Somatizing, Hysteric-Histrionic, Narcissistic, Paranoid, Psychopathic, Sadistic, Emotionally Dysregulated)

Section III·  13 Mental Functioning Items (M-Axis):

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 

Section IV·  The S- Axis, which reflects a person’s subjective symptom patterns along with the most relevant/impaired domain of subjective experience (i.e., affective states, cognitive patterns, somatic states, and relationship patterns). 

         Section V Psychological Experiences that May Require Clinical Attention, or Other Cultural,   Contextual and Additional Relevant Considerations 

How to use:  It Is best to perform (or have access to) diagnostic interview data, history and psychological assessment data to derive optimal ratings. We recognize that this is not always feasible, and in many instances the clinician will code an initial impression, then re-assess as additional information accrues. It may also be used when the person is not available and ratings can be based on documents, records, collateral interviews, or other sources of information. If this is used for progress notes, there will be opportunities to re-assess and revise the person’s diagnosis as well.  

The PDC will be updated along with updates with the PDM.  Minor updates on the Psychodiagnostic Chart will not affect the validity of the PDC. 

Publications with the Psychodiagnostic Charts 

Aafjes-van Doorn, K., Spina, D. S., Horne, S. J., Gorman, B. S., Stukenberg, K., Gazzillo, F., ... & Waldron, S. (2025). Measuring personality change in psychoanalytic treatments: Opportunities for the use of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual. Psychoanalytic Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/pap0000525

Biberdzic, M., & Grenyer, B. F. (2022). How Much Training Do We Need? Assessing the Validity and Interrater Reliability of the PDM-2’s Psychodiagnostic Chart among Less Experienced Clinicians. Journal of Personality Assessment, 1-9.

Bincoletto, A., Negri, A. A. M., Christian, C., & Mariani, R. (2024). The road to symbolization: PDM-2 and linguistic measures in dialogue for the study of body dysmorphic disorder treatment. In Psicoterapia e ricerca in un mondo che cambia Congresso Nazionale SPR-IAG 7-9/11/2024 (pp. 15-15).

Bizzi, F., Locati, F., Parolin, L., Yael, S. G., & Brusadelli, E. (2022). Advancement in the child attachment interview and the child and adolescent reflective functioning scale using a PDM-2 framework. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process, and Outcome, 25(1).

Bizzi, F., Tironi, M., Conte, F., Brusadelli, E., & Locati, F. (2025). How Child’s Attachment, Mentalizing, Mental Functioning, and Emerging Personality Interplay with Age Differences and Clinical Status?. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 1-12.

Boivin, J. (2025). Effets d’une psychothérapie psychodynamique sur l’anxiété de performance musicale chez les étudiants en musique classique: une étude de cas.

Boldrini, T., Masiero, C., & Buglio, G. L. (2022). Theoretically informed, prototypical diagnostic models of psychosis: a narrative review. Programma.

Boldrini, T., Tanzilli, A., Di Cicilia, G., Gualco, I., Lingiardi, V., Salcuni, S., ... & Pontillo, M. (2020). Personality traits and disorders in adolescents at clinical high risk for psychosis: Toward a clinically meaningful diagnosis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 1258.

Boldrini, T., Masiero, C., & Buglio, G. L. (2022). Theoretically informed, prototypical diagnostic models of psychosis: a narrative review. Programma.

Bornstein, R. F. (2018). From symptom to process: Case formulation, clinical utility, and PDM-2. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 35(3), 351.

Bornstein, R. F. (2018). Reconciling psychoanalysis with other psychological disciplines: How to promote greater PDM-2 influence. Giornale italiano di psicologia, 45(4), 811-818.

Bornstein, R. F., & Gordon, R. M. (2012). What do practitioners want in a diagnostic taxonomy? Comparing the PDM with DSM and ICD. In Division/Review: A Quarterly Psychoanalytic Forum (Vol. 6, p. 35).

Both, L. M., Bastos, A. G., & Freitas, L. H. M. (2019). Operationalized psychodynamic diagnosis: a systematic review of the literature. Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapy, 41(02), 201-210.

Caffrey, J. (2022). The Association between Clinician Ratings of Moral Reasoning and MMPI-2 Clinical Scales in Forensic Psychological Assessment. Chestnut Hill College.

Cain, N.M., Solomon, J., Sowislo, J., Clarkin, J.F. (2024). A Multimethod Examination of the Validity of the Psychodiagnostic Chart–2. Psychoanalytic Psychology. 10.1037/pap0000510. 

Carone, N., Tracchegiani, J., & Lingiardi, V. (2025). Maternal Attachment State of Mind and Defensive Functioning in Pregnancy: Predicting Mother-Infant Relationship at 6 Months through the PDM-2 Infancy and Early Childhood (IEC) Section. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1568620.

Christian, C., Bincoletto, A. F., Mariani, R., Negri, A., Lingiardi, V., & Tanzilli, A. (2025). Specificities of mental functioning and referential process in body dysmorphic disorder: A single case study using the psychodynamic diagnostic manual (PDM-2). Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 54(4), 1-19.

Colli, A., Gagliardini, G., Guerrini Degl'Innocenti, B., Ponsi, M., Rossi Monti, M., & Foresti, G. (2020). What psychoanalysts do in their everyday clinical practice: Empirically derived prototypes of the psychoanalytic process. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 37(2), 136.

Colli, A., Gagliardini, G.,Pepi, R., D'Agostino, Gullo, S., & Monti, M.R. (2023). Psychoanalysts’ Work Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Study on Teleanalysis During the Italian Lockdown. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 40(3), 1-8.https://doi.org/10.1037/pap0000468

Doorn, A. V., Spina, D. S., Horne, S. J., Gorman, B. S., Stukenberg, K., Gazzillo, F., ... & Waldron, S. (2025). Measuring personality change in psychoanalytic treatments: Opportunities for the use of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual. Psychoanalytic Psychology.

Durmishi,L ; Ibrahimi, S. ; Ibrahimi,E, & Gordon,R. (2023)  Еволюцията на психодиагностичната диаграма: Развитие на концепцията и психометричните свойства на нов инструмент за оценка на психичното здраве и общественото здраве, Article accepted for publishing in October 2023 in the Psychological Thought Journal,Bulgaria

Durmishi, L; Ibrahimi,S.; Ibrahimi, E.  (2022) An introduction to the Psychodynamic Prototype and Psychodiagostic Chart as a Neo-Prospects for the Psychodynamic Organization. Proceedings Book of the “International Conference on Research in Applied Sciences”, ISBN:978-625-8323-78-8, Barcelona, Spain

Durmishi,L ; Ibrahimi, S. ; Ibrahimi,E, & Gordon,R. (2022) The Evolution of the Psychodiagnostic Chart: Concept Development and Psychometric Properties of a Novel Assessment tool in Mental Health and Public Health. Proceedings Book on 30th September 2022, in the International Ege Congress on Social Sciences & Humanities, Izmir Turkiye

Fortunato, A., Tanzilli, A., Lingiardi, V., & Speranza, A. M. (2022). Psychodiagnostic Chart-Child (PDC-C): a valid and clinically sensitive diagnostic tool for patient-tailored intervention planning. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process, and Outcome, 25(1).

Gazzillo, F., Lingiardi, V., Del Corno, F., Genova, F., Bornstein, R. F., Gordon, R. M., & McWilliams, N. (2015). Clinicians’ emotional responses and Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual adult personality disorders: A clinically relevant empirical investigation. Psychotherapy, 52(2), 238.

Giovanardi, G., Mundo, E., & Lingiardi, V. (2021). Paola on the couch: The quest for feminine identity in an empirically supported psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a trans woman. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 38(4), 239.

Gordon, R.M. (2009). Reactions to the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM) by Psychodynamic, CBT and Other Non- Psychodynamic Psychologists. Issues in Psychoanalytic Psychology,31,1,55-62.

Gordon, R. M., Stoffey, R. W., & Perkins, B. L. (2013). Comparing the sensitivity of the MMPI-2 clinical scales and the MMPI-RC scales to clients rated as psychotic, borderline or neurotic on the Psychodiagnostic Chart. Psychology, 4(09), 12.

Gordon, R. M., & Stoffey, R. W. (2014). Operationalizing the psychodynamic diagnostic manual: a preliminary study of the psychodiagnostic chart. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 78(1), 1.

Gordon, R. M., Blake, A., Bornstein, R. F., Gazzillo, F., Etzi, J., Lingiardi, V., ... & Tasso, A. F. (2016). Favored Diagnostic Taxa: What Do Practitioners Consider the Most Helpful Personality Taxa in Understanding Their Patients? 1. In DIVISION/Review: A Quarterly Psychoanalytic Forum (Vol. 15, pp. 70-70). American Psychoanalytic Association.

Gordon, R. M., Gazzillo, F., Blake, A., Bornstein, R. F., Etzi, J., Lingiardi, V., ... & Tasso, A. F. (2016). The relationship between theoretical orientation and countertransference expectations: Implications for ethical dilemmas and risk management. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 23(3), 236-245.

Gordon, R.M., Blake, A., Etzi, J., Rothery, C., & Tasso, A.F. (2017). Do Practitioners Find a Psychodynamic Taxonomy Useful?  Journal of Psychology and Clinical Psychiatry 7(5): 00452. DOI: 10.15406/jpcpy.2017.07.00452

Gordon, R. M., & Bornstein, R. F. (2018). Construct validity of the Psychodiagnostic Chart: A transdiagnostic measure of personality organization, personality syndromes, mental functioning, and symptomatology. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 35(2), 280.

Gordon, R. M. (2019). A Concurrent Validity Study of the PDM-2 Personality Syndromes. Current Psychology, 38(3), 698-704.

Gordon, R.M. (2024). Measuring the Mental Functioning of Putin, Trump, and Zelenskyy, a Chapter in Messina, K., (Ed.) A Psychoanalytic Study of Political  Leadership in the United States and Russia: Searching for Truth. Routledge.

Gordon, R. M., Spektor, V., & Luu, L. (2019). Personality organization traits and expected counter-transference and treatment interventions. Int J Psychol Psychoanal, 5, 039.

Gori, A., Topino, E., Muzi, L., Lingiardi, V., & Stanghellini, G. (2025). A MULTIMETHOD PSYCHOMETRIC APPROACH TO ANALYSE THE PROFILE OF MENTAL FUNCTIONING‒M AXIS OF THE PSYCHODYNAMIC DIAGNOSTIC MANUAL, (PDM-2): A FOCUS ON CLUSTER B PERSONALITY DISORDERS. CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHIATRY, 22(1), 53-65.

Guglielmetti, G., & Benelli, E. (2020). Development and Case Study Application of a Proxy-Generated Outcome Measure of Suffering for use with Clients with Illusory Mental Health. International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research & Practice, 11(1), 32-57.

Hinrichs, J., Dauphin, V. B., Munday, C. C., Porcerelli, J. H., Kamoo, R., & Christian-Kliger, P. (2019). Assessing level of personality organization with the psychodiagnostic chart: A validity study. Journal of personality assessment, 101(2), 181-190.

Huprich, S. K., Jowers, C., Dowgwillo, E., Ethridge, H., Nelson, S. M., & Porcerelli, J. H. (2025). Prototype Models of Personality Disorders: Prototype Convergence and Association With Pathological Traits. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 32(1), e70034.

Ibrahimi, S., & Gordon, R.M. (2015). Post-Traumatic Identity within Social Contexts. Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research Vol 1, No 1, 47-51. ISSN 2410-759X, Access online at www.iipccl.org 

Ibrahimi, S., Dervishi, E., & Gordon, R.M. (2015). Traumatic behavior deviance of individual within social contexts. European Psychiatric Congress, Vienna Austria. 

Ibrahimi, S., Dervishi, E., Muca, V., & Dobra, M. (2018). Psychodynamic prototype through personality organization chart of educational leaders. Anthropological Researches and Studies, 1(8), 125-133.

Ibrahimi, E., Vasta, R. S. A., Marche, C., Bajraktari, N., & Gordon, R. M. (2023). The Psychodiagnostic Chart-3: Psychometric Properties of The Follow-Up Study In Italy. 5th ICOMEU, 9.

Joyce, A. S., & Marmarosh, C. L. (2023). 2 Group Selection, Group Composition, and Pre-Group Preparation. Group Psychotherapy Assessment and Practice: A Measurement-Based Care Approach.

Kernberg, O. F. (2018). Commentary on the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, 2nd Edition: What does the PDM-2 add to the current diagnostic panorama? Psychoanalytic Psychology, 35(3), 294–295. https://doi.org/10.1037/pap0000208

Kleinsorge, S., & Villa, K. K. (2025). Understanding Personality Prototypes in Catholic Religious Vocations. Integratus, 3(1), 30-57.

Kotan, V. O., Kotan, Z., & Bilgili, G. Ö. (2018). Diagnostic Classification Systems Based on Psychoanalytical Principles. Archives of Neuropsychiatry, 55(1), 91.

Locati, F., Corti, L., Gordon, R. M., & Brusadelli, E. (2025). Improving clinical case formulation in developmental psychopathology: A case commentary on Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2) in a multimethod assessment framework. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 42(3), 129–135. https://doi.org/10.1037/pap0000545

MADARJAC, R. F. (2023). Diagnosticare in psicodinamica: la Defense Mechanism Rating Scale, fra clinica e ricerca.

 McWilliams, N. (2023). Diagnosis and its discontents. Advancing Psychotherapy for the Next Generation: Humanizing Mental Health Policy and Practice.

 Mirabella, M., Muzi, L., Franco, A., Urgese, A., Rugo, M. A., Mazzeschi, C., ... & Lingiardi, V. (2023). From symptoms to subjective and bodily experiences: the contribution of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2) to diagnosis and treatment monitoring in eating disorders. Eating and Weight Disorders-Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 28(1), 35.

Mundo, E. (2025). Trauma and Dissociation: A Psychodynamic Perspective. In The Complexity of Trauma (pp. 139-160). Routledge.

Mutluer, M., & Erdogan, A. P. D. A. (2022). International Ege Congress on Social Sciences & Humanities.

Muzi, L., Marta, M., Anna, F., Alessia, U., Mazzeschi, C., & Michele, R. (2022). Toward a multidimensional, psychodynamic and empirically-supported diagnosis of eating disorders: implications for the PDM-3. RESEARCH IN PSYCHOTHERAPY, 25, 35-36.

Muzi, L., Tieghi, L., Rugo, M., & Lingiardi, V. (2021). Eating pathology and Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2) diagnostic assessment: Implications for treatment outcomes in a psychodynamic-oriented residential setting. Psychoanalytic Psychology.

Pacheco, R. R., Kim, H., Choi, W. T., Kook, M. C., Cho, M. Y., Karamchandani, D. M., ... & Lee, H. (2023). Unravelling interobserver variability in gastrointestinal glandular neoplasia: a contemporary study of US and Korean pathologists. Journal of Clinical Pathology.

 Patriarca, E., Tanzilli, A., Brusadelli, E., Lingiardi, V., & Grenyer, B. F. (2023). A  multidimensional assessment of therapeutic outcomes: Toward a Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2)-oriented approach to psychotherapy research. Psychoanalytic Psychology,  40(2), 128.

Patriarca, E., Brusadelli, E., & Grenyer, B. F. (2021). A bridge between person-based versus symptom-based nosology: A clinical case study using the Psychodiagnostic Chart-2. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 38(1), 31.

Phillips, G., & Raskin, J. D. (2021). A primer for clinicians on alternatives to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 52(2), 91.

Raskin, J.D. (2024). Psychopathology and Mental Distress: Contrasting Perspectives, New York, Bloomsbury Academic.

Roche, M. J., Jacobson, N. C., & Phillips, J. J. (2018). Expanding the validity of the Level of Personality Functioning Scale observer report and self-report versions across psychodynamic and interpersonal paradigms. Journal of Personality Assessment, 100(6), 571-580.

Rosso, A. M., Airaldi, C., & Camoirano, A. (2021). Inter-rater Reliability and Construct Validity of the Lerner Defense Scale in Clinical and Non-clinical Groups. Frontiers in Psychology, 4155.

Sauku, V. H., Gordon, R. M., Ibrahimi, S., & Ibrahimi, E. (2024). Toward A New Understanding of Personality Organization: The Psychodiagnostic Chart as a Concept and Screening Tool in Mental Health. International Journal of Health and Psychology Research, 12(3), 50-62.

Spektor, V., Luu, L. & Gordon, R.M. (2015) The Relationship between Theoretical Orientation and Accuracy of Countertransference Expectations., Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 63(4), NP28-NP32.

Speranza, A. M., & Banella, F. E. (2016). Diagnosis in infancy and childhood: towards a Psychodynamic assessment. INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, 37, 452-453.

Speranza, A. M., Malberg, N., & Steele, M. (2018). Mental health and developmental disorders in infancy and early childhood: The PDM-2. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 35(3), 328.

Spina, D. S., Aafjes-van Doorn, K., Horne, S. J., Gazzillo, F., Genova, F., Gorman, B. S., ... & Waldron, S. (2025). Can Graduate Students Rate Personality Reliably in Psychoanalytic Treatments Using the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP-200)?. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 53(1), 102-120.

Tanzilli, A., Giovanardi, G., Patriarca, E., Lingiardi, V., & Williams, R. (2021). From a symptom-based to a person-centered approach in treating depressive disorders in adolescence: a clinical case formulation using the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2)’s framework. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(19), 10127.

Tanzilli, A., Di Giuseppe, M., Giovanardi, G., Boldrini, T., Caviglia, G., Conversano, C., & Lingiardi, V. (2021). Mentalization, attachment, and defense mechanisms: a Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual-2-oriented empirical investigation. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process, and Outcome, 24(1).

Tanzilli, A., Fiorentino, F., Liotti, M., Buglio, G. L., Gualco, I., Lingiardi, V., ... & Williams, R. (2024). Patient personality and therapist responses in the psychotherapy of adolescents with depressive disorders: toward the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual. Research in psychotherapy (Milano).

Tanzilli, A., Fiorentino, F., & Ivan, G. (2021). Personality syles, depressive disorders and therapist responses in adolescent psychotherapy: A PDM-2 empirically oriented and clinically meaningful investigation. MEDITERRANEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, 9(2), 176-177.

Tanzilli, A., Fiorentino, F., Liotti, M., Buglio, G. L., Gualco, I., Lingiardi, V., ... & Williams, R. (2024). Patient personality and therapist responses in the psychotherapy of adolescents with depressive disorders: toward the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process, and Outcome, 27(1).

Tanzilli, A., Liotti, M., Fiorentino, F., Gualco, I., & Sharp, C. (2024). The new “Adolescence” section of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-3): An overview on his main innovations and applications in clinical and empirical contexts. In XV Congresso Nazionale SPR-IAG.

Williams, R., Fiorentino, F., Lingiardi, V., Moselli, M., Sharp, C., & Tanzilli, A. (2025). The assessment of pathways towards suicide in adolescent patients: A PDM‐2‐oriented approach. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice.

Wood, R. (Ed.). (2024). Psychoanalytic Reflections on Vladimir Putin: The Cost of Malignant Leadership. Taylor & Francis.

Vasiliu, O., Mangalagiu, A. G., Petrescu, B. M., & Ciobanu, A. M. (2025). Current status and challenges of the psychiatric nosography. Is there a conflict between expectations and evidence?. Psihiatru. ro, 80(1).

Zingaretti, P., Genova, F., Gazzillo, F., & Lingiardi, V. (2017). Patients’ crying experiences in psychotherapy: Relationship with the patient level of personality organization, clinician approach, and therapeutic alliance. Psychotherapy, 54(2), 159.

Бугерко, Я. М. (2019). THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE PSYCHODEVELOPMENTAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES APPLIED USING IN HIGHER SCHOOL. Науковий вісник Херсонського державного університету. Серія «Психологічні науки», (2), 36-43.

 PDM-3 Manual  

 Psychodiagnostic Chart Validity 2014.pdf

PDM-2 Assessment Chapter pre-pub long form.pdf

PDM 2 FOR BETTER TREATMENT Rome 2016.pptx

PDC2 2015 v8.1.pdf

PDC-3 2025.pdf

PDC-2 Manual v.8.1.pdf

PDC Results- Addendum.pdf

Div 39 2016 Master Lecture on PDM2.pptx

Construct Validity of the Psychodiagnostic Chart.pdf