Discusses the relative scarcity of psychodynamically related tests & describes an approach to outpatient treatment called sequential psychodiagnostic evaluation. The 1st stage refers to the evaluation of crisis issues such as suicidality or psychosis; the 2nd to ego-dystonic symptom assessment; & the 3rd to the assessment of ego-syntonic states. Illustrates construction of selected scales & decribes their use in a research study of predictors of psychotherapy outcome. (18 ref)