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Background: Currently, there is a increasing interest in the role of personality organization in understanding personality disorders (PDs) (e.g., Eurelings-Bontekoe et al., 2009). One dominant approach in this regard focuses on levels of DR in representations of self and others (e.g., Blatt & Auerbach, 2001) as measured by the Differentiation-Relatedness Scale (DRS; Diamond et al., 1991). Yet, until today, most of the studies using the DRS have investigated the association between changes in levels of DR of self and object representations and therapeutic change in diagnostically heterogeneous samples. Little is known about the relationship between levels of DR of object representations and clinical functioning per se and for patients with PDs. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of the role of levels of DR in patients with PDs by investigating the association between the level of DR of mother, father, and self and various indices of clinical functioning, i.e., Axis-II pathology (assessed with SCID II), symptoms (measured with Beck Depression Inventory and SCL-90) and interpersonal functioning (measured with Inventory of Interpersonal functioning) in a sample of seventy carefully screened PDs patients at start of treatment. Data were collected as part of a process-outcome study of hospitalization-based psychodynamic psychotherapy (see Vermote et al., 2009 for more details). Results: Pearson’s correlations showed significant associations between level of DR of self, mother, and father at the start of treatment, and the various indices of clinical functioning. Yet, further analyses using multiple regression analyses with representations of self, mother, and father entered simultaneously, demonstrated that only the level of DR of self was a significant predictor of Axis-II pathology, symptoms as well as interpersonal functioning. Conclusions: Results of this study extend existing research on levels of DR (e.g., Blatt et al., 1996) in that in a sample of PDs patients representations of self were the most important predictors of various aspects of clinical functioning. Implications of these findings for further research and treatment are discussed. References -Blatt, S. J., & Auerbach, J. S. (2001). Mental representation, severe psychopathology, and the therapeutic process. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 49, 113-159. -Blatt, S. J., Stayner, D., Auerbach, J. S., & Behrends, R. S. (1996). Change in object and self representations in long-term, intensive, inpatient treatment of seriously disturbed adolescents and young adults. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes, 559, 82-107. -Diamond, D., Blatt, S. J., Stayner, D., & Kaslow, N. (1991). Self-other differentiation of object representations. Unpublished research manual, Yale University, New Haven, CT. -Eurelings-Bontekoe, E. H. M., Luyten, P., & Snellen, W. (2009). Validation of a Theory-Driven Profile Interpretation of the Dutch Form of the MMPI Using the TAT Social Cognitions and Object Relations Scale (SCORS). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 155-165. -Vermote, R., Fonagy, P., Vertommen, H., Verhaest, Y., Stroobants, R., Vandeneede, B., Corveleyn, J., Lowyck, B., Luyten, P., & Peuskens, J. (2009). Outcome and outcome trajectories of personality disordered patients during and after a psychoanalytic hospitalization-based treatment. Journal of Personality Disorders, 23, 294-307. Note : This research is supported by a grant of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA)