TRAUMA AND ATTACHMENT B ELIEF S CALE
MANUAL
Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale
MANUAL
®
Western Psychological Services
•
12031 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90025-1251
L AURIE A NNE P EARLMAN , P H .D.
wps
Laurie Anne Pearlman, Ph.D.
Traumatic Stress Institute/Center for Adult & Adolescent Psychotherapy, LLC
South Windsor, Connecticut
Published by
wps
®
Publishers Distributors
W-393B
1
Introduction
General Description
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.
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.
Table 1
TABS Scores and Sample Items
TABS scale
3
No. of
items
Sample item
Total
84
Self-Safety (SS)
Other-Safety (OS)
13
8
54. I feel threatened by others.
6. I never think anyone is safe
from danger.
Self-Trust (ST)
Other-Trust (OT)
7
8
19. I don’t trust my instincts.
26. Trusting people is not smart.
Self-Esteem (SE)
Other-Esteem (OE)
9
8
3. I don’t feel like I deserve much.
39. People are no good.
Self-Intimacy (SI)
Other-Intimacy (OI)
7
8
53. I hate to be alone.
35. I feel cut off from people.
Self-Control (SC)
9
Other-Control (OC)
7
56. I have problems with selfcontrol.
78. I can’t do good work unless
I am the leader.
4
Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale (TABS)
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.
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.