title: A diagnostic axis relevant to psychotherapy and preventive mental health.
abstract: Concepts commonly useful to therapists in deciding upon the direction of psychotherapy are collated into a diagnostic axis, using the language of skills. It is argued that this skills axis has more therapeutic relevance than a symptom-cluster scheme, is less pejorative than personality disorder labels, lends itself to scientific grounding, would promote clarity in outcome research, and could be usefully applied to preventive mental health.
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012917:Social Adjustment