Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale

Laurie Anne Pearlman, Ph.D.

Traumatic Stress Institute/Center for Adult & Adolescent Psychotherapy, LLC

South Windsor, Connecticut

W-393B

MANUAL

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Published by

TRAUMA

ANDATTACHM

ENTBELIEFS

CALEMANUAL

LAURIEANNEPEARLMAN, PH.D.

Western Psychological Services • 12031 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90025-1251

As clinicians and researchers have become more

aware of the long-lasting psychological effects of traumatic

life experiences, they have increasingly encountered a need

for instruments to assess the impact of those events. In

response to this need, researchers have begun to develop

trauma-specific instruments. A small number of guides to

trauma measures now exist for clinicians and researchers

who want to describe the experience of trauma survivors

systematically and objectively (see, for example, Briere,

1997; Carlson, 1996; Stamm, 1996; Wilson & Keane, 1997).

Because the effects of traumatic life experiences are so

pervasive and complex, a range of instruments is required to

measure them. Indeed, traumatic events—particularly those

that occur early in life—affect the victim’s entire psychology,

including defenses, coping styles, experience of self and

other, self capacities, ego resources, psychological needs,

ways of relating to others, worldview, identity, and

spirituality. The Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale (TABS)

was developed to assist clinicians and researchers in this

effort.

The TABS (previously known as the Traumatic Stress

Institute [TSI] Belief Scale) has a wide range of clinical

applications, which are described in more detail in chapter 3.

Briefly stated, the TABS can be used to help formulate a

therapeutic approach with a client and to identify important

themes in the client’s interpersonal relationships that are

likely to emerge in the psychotherapy relationship. TABS

results can suggest the possible presence of a trauma history,

identify psychological themes in trauma material, document

progress in treatment, and suggest an appropriate focus for

therapeutic work with clients as their needs shift over time.

Trauma survivors may be more likely than other

clients to react negatively to psychological tests. The TABS

was designed to avoid using disempowering labels or

otherwise alienating the trauma survivor; the items do not

focus on trauma-related symptoms per se, but rather on

beliefs about people that may stem from traumatic

experiences. Thus the test is sensitive to the specific effects

of traumatic experiences, and also measures constructs that

pertain to any therapeutic effort that is focused on

disruptions in relationships.

General Description

The TABS is a self-report, paper-and-pencil instrument

intended to assess cognitive schemas (beliefs about oneself

and about others). In particular, it measures beliefs related to

five need areas that are sensitive to the effects of traumatic

experiences—safety, trust, esteem, intimacy, and control.

Within each need area, separate sets of items tap into beliefs

about oneself and beliefs about others, yielding ten subscale

scores and a total score. The scores that are obtained from

the TABS are listed in Table 1.

There are 84 items on the TABS. The directions ask

the respondent to rate, on a scale of 1 to 6 (1 = Disagree

strongly, 6 = Agree strongly), the extent to which each

statement matches his or her own beliefs. The items, which

are face valid, fall in the “Easy” range on the Flesch Reading

Ease scale (Flesch, 1979) and should be appropriate for

anyone who can read at least at a 3rd-grade level.

1

Introduction

3

Table 1

TABS Scores and Sample Items

No. of

TABS scale items Sample item

Total 84

Self-Safety (SS) 13 54. I feel threatened by others.

Other-Safety (OS) 8 6. I never think anyone is safe

from danger.

Self-Trust (ST) 7 19. I don’t trust my instincts.

Other-Trust (OT) 8 26. Trusting people is not smart.

Self-Esteem (SE) 9 3. I don’t feel like I deserve much.

Other-Esteem (OE) 8 39. People are no good.

Self-Intimacy (SI) 7 53. I hate to be alone.

Other-Intimacy (OI) 8 35. I feel cut off from people.

Self-Control (SC) 9 56. I have problems with self-

control.

Other-Control (OC) 7 78. I can’t do good work unless

I am the leader.

Norms are currently available for adults aged 17 and

older, based on a heterogeneous sample of 1,743 individuals

from nonclinical research groups. The form has been

designed to be suitable for use with adolescents as well as

adults, once appropriate normative data become available.

The test scores have been demonstrated to be reliable for

adults. Internal consistency and test-retest reliabilities for

the TABS Total score are good (.96 and .75, respectively).

The subscales are also reliable, with a median internal

consistency estimate of .79 (range = .67 to .87) and median

test-retest reliability of .72 (range = .60 to .79). Support for

the validity of the test comes from work examining the

structure of the instrument, correlations with similar

measures, and the responses of individuals in relevant

clinical and research groups. More details regarding the

psychometric characteristics of the test are described in

chapter 5 of this manual.

4 Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale (TABS)

User Qualifications

A trained technician can easily administer the TABS.

Such administration, however, should be supervised by a

qualified mental health professional. Interpretation and

reporting of test results should be undertaken only by

someone with training and experience in the use of

clinically oriented psychological test instruments. As with

any psychological test, decisions about case disposition and

treatment should never be made on the basis of TABS

results in isolation, but rather should be informed by all

available clinical information, including the clinical

interview and history and, where appropriate, the results of

additional psychological tests.

The TABS has been constructed in the context of a

psychological theory known as constructivist self

development theory (CSDT). McCann and Pearlman

(1990a) and Pearlman and Saakvitne (1995) have described

CSDT in detail. A brief summary of the theory is included

in chapter 4 to provide basic background information about

the TABS that will be helpful to people using the test.