Until recently case formulation was an ethereal art, in that there was 110 standard, agreed-upon format for conceptualizing and writing formulations. However, the increasing emphasis on accountability in psychiatric care, the trend toward theoretical integration, and the difficulty trainees experience in mastering formulation skills highlight the need for a standard format. The descriptive, etiological and treatment-prognostic components of a formulation are discussed as a standard format for conceptualizing and writing case formulations. Four written formulations are described in terms of content, structure and process to illustrate this format.
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