The tripartite model and the Consumer Reports study.

Abstract

This article relates the Consumer Reports (1995) study to the framework of the tripartite model of mental health and therapeutic outcomes (H. H. Strupp & S. W. Hadley, 1977) and calls attention to major unsolved problems in the assessment of therapeutic change. The model envisions three perspectives for evaluating outcomes: adaptive behavior (society), sense of well-being, and personality structure. The self-report perspective is viewed as having its own validity; however, it needs to be complemented by the other two perspectives of the model. Integration of the three perspectives has remained a somewhat elusive goal.