title: Assessing ego strength: spinning straw into gold.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The reexamination of ego function from the perspective of ego strength rather than ego deficit.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To promote the assessment of ego strength as a valuable skill for nurse psychotherapists, and to underscore the importance of ego strength as a relevant construct for both assessment and psychotherapy outcome measurement.
  
  
  METHODS
  The literature of modern psychoanalysis and ego psychology, Bellak's research on ego function, Parse's nursing theory, and the nursing literature on ego assessment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Identifying and assessing ego strength helps nurse psychotherapists locate clients on a developmental continuum, suggests a place to join with the client at the inception of therapy, and provides data to develop therapeutic goals.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO, USA. pbjorkl732@aol.com
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bjorklund
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D004532:Ego; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011613:Psychotherapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome