Some have maintained that ‘in general, Loevinger’s model suffers from a lack of clinical grounding’, and that arguably ‘like Kohlberg’s theory…it confuses content and structure’.[43] Based as her research was on the assessment of verbalised material, because ‘the measure focuses so heavily on conscious verbal responses, it does not discriminate intelligent, liberal people with severe ego defects from those who actually are quite integrated’.[44]
(43) Drew Westen, Self and Society (Cambridge 1985) p. 151-2
(44) Westen, p. 152