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The influence of patient and clinician ideology on clinical judgment was studied. Therapists each rated two cases. One case had been altered to reflect either an extreme left-wing or extreme right-wing ideological orientation and the other case reflected no ideological commitment. Limited support was found for three hypotheses concerning therapist response to these cases. It is suggested that patient ideology, therapist ideology and their interaction influence clinical judgment and that clinicians need to be sensitive to possible "ideological countertransference."A patient walks into a therapist's office and says that he is anxious, depressed, and wants counseling. He has prayed, fasted and, attended healing services for relief, and though he still believes that only those in his small religious sect are saved, he thought he would try counseling with a "non-believing" therapist. What influence does the patient's ideology have on the therapist'sWe would like to thank

The influence of patient and clinician ideology on clinical judgment is studied in the context of a clinical analogue design. These findings suggest that patient ideology, therapist ideology, and their interaction influence clinical judgment arid that clinicians need to be sensitive to what might be considered “ideological countertransference.”

Recent empirical work aimed at identifying test signs of borderline personality disorder is reviewed. The review focuses on commonly employed clinical tests, including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), the Rorschach, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Possible test signs are considered in relation to their sensitivity to and specificity for the diagnosis and in relation to the criteria of DSM-III, which define the disorder. Although consistent patterns of potentially useful test signs have begun to appear, methodological difficulties have hampered any subsequent development of clinically useful indices. Greater attention to sample size and its composition and definition as well as demonstrations of adequate reliability and predictive utility are required for further development of these signs.

The authors conducted a systematic examination of DSM-III-R personality disorders among 35 patients with eating disorders. Fifty-seven percent of the patients met the criteria for at least one axis II diagnosis; borderline, self-defeating, and avoidant were the most frequently assigned personality disorders. Forty percent of the patients were given two or more diagnoses, and 17% of the patients met criteria for five to seven diagnoses. No differences were found between patients with anorexia nervosa, anorexia and bulimia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa in the distribution of diagnoses or the frequency with which individual criteria (traits) were assigned.