The IASC is a self-report measure of an individual’s psychological functioning capacity in the areas of forming and maintaining meaningful relationships, creating a stable sense of personal identity and self-awareness, and the ability to modulate and tolerate negative affect. This instrument is particularly useful with adults who have experienced significant childhood abuse or trauma.
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What is the construct of self-capacities?
The construct of “self-capacities”involves the notion that successful adult functioning is partly due to the extent to which the individual is able to accomplish three tasks:
(Kohut, 1977; McCann, & Pearlman, 1990), as modified by Briere (1997b) and reflected in the items of the IASC.
Why should I include a test for self-capacities?
Even if insufficient self-capacities are not the specific targets of psychodynamic, cognitive, or behavioral treatment, they can intrude on the conduct of almost any therapeutic endeavor. Knowledge of which clients are more likely to experience problems can decrease the likelihood that the clinician will be “blind-sided” by the sudden intrusion of, for example, abandonment fears or idealization-devaluation dynamics during treatment. Most importantly, however, altered or reduced self-capacities are a common element of more severe psychological disturbance and are frequently found in clients who were abused, neglected, or otherwise maltreated as children. A test of self-capacities would indicate the quantitative extent to which the client experiences each of the individual components of what is generally termed “Borderline Personality Disorder,” such as identity confusion or diffusion, affect dysregulation and intolerance, and impaired or chaotic relations with others.