Rorschach Protocol Research Articles

Ego Psychoanalytic Rorschach Interpretation

Abstract. This article concerns the utility of ego psychoanalytic perspectives in Rorschach interpretation. Psychoanalytic ego psychology focuses on how people cope with events in their lives and how effectively they can meet challenges to their sense of well-being. The way people deal with experienced distress constitutes their defensive style and determines to a large extent what kind of person they are. Adequate defenses against anxiety promote comfortable and productive adjustment, whereas ineffective defenses typically cause adjustment difficulties and susceptibility to psychological disorders. In Rorschach assessment, the nature and effectiveness of a person’s defensive style can often be identified with a sequence analysis that integrates the structural, thematic, and behavioral features in the protocol. In particular, the sequential quality of responses, especially preceding and following instances of cognitive slippage, can help identify causes of upsetting concerns, defensive efforts to alleviating these concerns, and the adequacy of these defensive efforts in restoring equanimity. This interpretive process is illustrated with attention to implications for differential diagnosis and treatment planning in the Rorschach protocol of a 20-year-old suicidal woman.

Attachment Style and Internet Addiction: An Online Survey.

BackgroundOne of the clinically relevant problems of Internet use is the phenomenon of Internet addiction. Considering the fact that there is ample evidence for the relationship between attachment style and substance abuse, it stands to reason that attachment theory can also make an important contribution to the understanding of the pathogenesis of Internet addiction.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine people’s tendency toward pathological Internet usage in relation to their attachment style.MethodsAn online survey was conducted. Sociodemographic data, attachment style (Bielefeld questionnaire partnership expectations), symptoms of Internet addiction (scale for online addiction for adults), used Web-based services, and online relationship motives (Cyber Relationship Motive Scale, CRMS-D) were assessed. In order to confirm the findings, a study using the Rorschach test was also conducted.ResultsIn total, 245 subjects were recruited. Participants with insecure attachment style showed a higher tendency to pathological Internet usage compared with securely attached participants. An ambivalent attachment style was particularly associated with pathological Internet usage. Escapist and social-compensatory motives played an important role for insecurely attached subjects. However, there were no significant effects with respect to Web-based services and apps used. Results of the analysis of the Rorschach protocol with 16 subjects corroborated these results. Users with pathological Internet use frequently showed signs of infantile relationship structures in the context of social groups. This refers to the results of the Web-based survey, in which interpersonal relationships were the result of an insecure attachment style.ConclusionsPathological Internet use was a function of insecure attachment and limited interpersonal relationships.

Projective identification and suicidal risk behaviour assessing a Rorschach protocol: a clinical case report.

This paper highlights the clinical signs of suicidal risk behaviour assessing a Rorschach protocol. A 21-year-old female with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and a history of suicide attempt, is assessed upon an accurate clinical and personality evaluation with the Rorschach projective method. Authors discuss by a clinical and psychoanalytical perspective the role of projective identification and the suicidal risk signs in a Rorschach protocol, for appropriate diagnosis, manage and prevent of this phenomenon.

Potential Projective Material on the Rorschach: Comparing Comprehensive System Protocols to Their Modeled R-Optimized Administration Counterparts

ABSTRACTExner (1989) and Weiner (2003) identified 3 types of Rorschach codes that are most likely to contain personally relevant projective material: Distortions, Movement, and Embellishments. We examine how often these types of codes occur in normative data and whether their frequency changes for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or last response to a card. We also examine the impact on these variables of the Rorschach Performance Assessment System's (R–PAS) statistical modeling procedures that convert the distribution of responses (R) from Comprehensive System (CS) administered protocols to match the distribution of R found in protocols obtained using R-optimized administration guidelines. In 2 normative reference databases, the results indicated that about 40% of responses (M = 39.25) have 1 type of code, 15% have 2 types, and 1.5% have all 3 types, with frequencies not changing by response number. In addition, there were no mean differences in the original CS and R-optimized modeled records (M Cohen's d = –0.04 in both databases). When considered alongside findings showing minimal differences between the protocols of people randomly assigned to CS or R-optimized administration, the data suggest R-optimized administration should not alter the extent to which potential projective material is present in a Rorschach protocol.

Disponibilité à la psychothérapie et à l’engagement dans les soins chez les patientes boulimiques : contribution du Rorschach

The instability of involvement in the care process and psychotherapy is frequent among bulimic women. The preliminary evaluation of the capacity of involvement helps to make the decision to begin specific care with these patients. We thus make the assumption that involvement in the care process can express itself in indexes of Rorschach when this test is part of a prior examination of orientation at the beginning of the care. These indexes concern the relationship dependence and the capacity of development of subjective expression. They appear in several analysis registers of the Rorschach protocol, which are: the scale of oral dependence (ROD); the index of expressive capacity (EX); the recurring object (ORec); contents in connection with the representation of dependence among bulimic women. A group of 34 bulimic women involved in multifocal care process, especially including a psychoanalytical-inspired psychotherapy (ES) is compared with a group of 34 bulimic women who precociously stopped this care or didn’t get involved in it (NES). The subjects of the ES group received care during at least 1 year. The comparison between the two groups shows significant differences in the pretherapeutic indexes (ROD, ORec). The interest and the limits of this type of analysis are debated.

A Child with ADHD: Convergences of Rorschach Data and Case Material

The Rorschach protocol and psychotherapy of a 7 year-old boy with severe ADHD symptomatology were studied in conjunction with one another. Both arenas place a premium on affect tolerance and expression. On the Rorschach, he displayed a constricted record on achromatic cards and a chaotic record on chromatic cards. This pattern was replicated many times over the course of his subsequent dynamically-oriented treatment. Both patterns were explained as an attempt to either simplify or deaden complex/ambiguous stimuli, with inner and outer tumult as the result when the emotional demands of a given situation could not be subdued in that manner. This work was supported in part by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Grant # DC 04992-02 awarded to Hilary Gomes. Ph.D., and by a PSC-CUNY Award given to Steve Tuber, Ph.D. The authors gratefully acknowledge the enormous help they received on this project from Professor Gomes and Virginia Wolfson.

Tests de personnalité et identification sexuée chez des transsexuels masculins

The aim of this research project was to study gender identification in male transsexuals compared to male and female controls, using the Rorschach test and the MMPI. In the international literature, many researches have shown that the nature of the human response on Rorschach card III is linked to gender identification, as is the MMPI Mf scale. Ten untreated male homosexual transsexuals and 18 treated and operated male homosexual transsexuals were compared to 10 male and 12 female controls regarding verbal IQ, human content on Rorschach card III and the MMPI Mf scale. Absence of hormonal treatment for the first group of transsexuals was checked by a blood test at the time of the psychological testing. Responses on Rorschach card III were scored according to different kinds of human contents: male (M), female (F), gender-unidentified/neutral (N), bisexual (B), feminine then masculine or the opposite (M/F), and nonhuman (NH). N, B, M/F and NH responses were rare in all Rorschach protocols. As expected, responses given by participants in the control group were significantly more consistent with their anatomical sex than with the opposite sex. Untreated transsexuals do not differ from treated and operated transsexuals on Rorschach data, and both transsexual groups give significantly more female human representations than male controls. Transsexuals' results are similar to female controls. Untreated transsexuals' mean score on the MMPI Mf scale is significantly higher than that of treated and operated transsexuals' score, in the male profile (biological sex). Both groups of transsexuals score higher on the Mf scale in the male profile than in the female profile. The mean Mf score in the male profile is significantly higher than that of male controls, whereas, in the female profile, the mean Mf score is similar to that of female controls. This study shows that for both groups of transsexuals, results are homogenous in respect of Rorschach and MMPI, showing hyper-conformism to self-perceived gender. Results in both groups are similar to results of female controls, but tend to show even more feminine gender identification. The absence of any significant difference between untreated and treated and operated transsexuals seems surprising, suggesting that the hormonal treatment has not had a major impact on gender identification processes. It would doubtless be interesting to study gender identification using even more kinds of data: all human contents in the Rorschach protocol (not just the responses given to card III), MMPI Mf scale, Draw-A-Person Test and Animal-and-Opposite Drawing Test. This would enhance result liability and could provide useful information about how gendter identification processes evolve after surgical sex reassigment.

"I Am Nobody": A Case Study of Suicidal Dynamics in Pedophilia

We describe a patient at acute suicide risk. His Rorschach protocol was analyzed using Exner's Comprehensive System and a number of psychoanalytic scales. The results pointed at a predominance of borderline defenses, identification with abusers and victims, symbiotic and violent interpersonal relations, self-fragmentation, and intertwined dynamics of suicide and pedophilia. Traumata internalization led to negative body experience, re-staging of the struggle with abusers in relation to his body, feelings of being infested by the trauma, and ruthless self-attacks. His suicide dynamics consist of blurred self-other boundaries, ecdytic fantasies, trauma internalization, and an attempt to exterminate a bad object through self-destruction.

The best and the worst of us?

Wood, Nezworski, Garb, and Lilienfeld provide a compelling critique of the norms developed by Exner for the Rorschach Comprehensive System. There does appear to be a systematic error that results in clinicians and researchers identifying pathology that may not in fact be present. Wood and his colleagues recommend that the Comprehensive System not be used in clinical or forensic work. The Rorschach is prone to excessive interpretation and should perhaps not have an appreciable or significant impact on the resolution of legal disputes. However, even Wood and Lilienfeld previously concluded that valid information can be obtained within a Rorschach protocol. The dispute over the Rorschach may be a flashpoint of a wider and more fundamental dispute within the profession.

Data and issues to Consider in Reconciling Self-Report and the Rorschach

Archer and Krishnamurthy (1993a, 1993b) systematically reviewed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-Rorschach research and found that there is minimal if any association between the two tests. In response to this review, data are reported demonstrating a positive association between various Rorschach variables and objective criteria. Data gleaned from published and yet unpublished sources suggest that the Rorschach is related to various self-report, other-report, and behavioral criteria, with children and adults, for psychosis and other constructs. Data are also presented suggesting that part of the disagreement between the two tests may be due to different types of response bias and positive self-presentations on the two tests. Research findings pertinent to differential validity as a function of the number of Rorschach responses protocol are also explored. I conclude with research recommendations regarding test-specific understandings of response bias and Rorschach protocol complexity as a moderator variable.

The Interpretive Process in Rorschach Testing

In this article, two complimentary and interwoven approaches to Rorschach interpretation are described. The first, a more structural approach, emphasizes test responses, the response process, and test rationales. Theorists with this emphasis focus primarily on the structural features of a test record?the scores and their interrelations. Interpretations drawn from the structural features of a record themselves tend to have a structural emphasis. A second approach, referred to as experiential, is more subjective and phenomenological. Based on the examiner's empathy, this approach is applied to other aspects of a Rorschach protocol such as content of responses and the testee's more spontaneous and off-handed comments. Each of these interpretive approaches must be given its due and integrated with interpretations drawn from the other.

The Egocentricity Index and Self-Esteem in Children

To test the hypothesis that pairs and reflections on a Rorschach protocol are related to self-esteem, the Egocentricity Indices (3r + 2/R) of 64 children were correlated with factors generated by two self-report measures of self-esteem. No significant relationships emerged for any of the variables. Similarly, there were no significant differences when the sample was divided between those with normal and abnormal indices. It was concluded that the Egocentricity Index may be more related to an unconscious process of self-focus than to conscious feelings of self-worth.

Experimental study of an inanimate movement response as a conflict index in the Rorschach test

According to Klopfer, the occurrence of inanimate movement responses (m) in a Rorschach protocol is an index of the subject's conflict level. Specifically, the greater the number of m responses the higher the level of conflict.The present study was designed to investigate this hypothesis experimentally. Two experiments were performed. In the first Experiment, 100 university students were administered the Rorschach test. A high “m” group and a low “m” group were selected out of these 100 subjects according to the frequency of “m” response occurrence in the Rorschach protocols. The high “m” group consisted of 20 subjects whose protocols showed three to six “m” responses and the low “m” group consisted of 20 subjects whose protocols showed no “m” responses.In the two groups, the procedure of discrimination conflict was employed. The apparatus was a modified version of the equipment which was used by Worell. Each subject was asked to respond to the brighter of two simultaneously exposed lights. The high conflict condition consisted of the brightest stimuli (100 Volt and 100 Volt), while the low conflict condition used the two extreme (40 Volt and 100 Volt). Each subject was presented with 32 trials in all. The 32 trials were divided into two blocks: first 16 trials of weak conflict followed by 16 trials of strong conflict. The conflict score of each subject was calculated by the following formula.conflict score=mean reaction time (log) of the first three trials in the strong conflict condition./mean reaction time (log) of the last three trials in the weak conflict condition.The high “m” group showed a significantly higher conflict score (p<0.05) than the low “m” group.In Experiment II, the MMPI was administered to 650 university students. On the basis of the Conflict Scale of the MMPI, a high conflict group (30 Ss) and a low conflict group (30 Ss) were selected.Then, the Rorschach test was administered to each of the subjects in the two groups in order to investigate the frequency of “m” responses.The results indicated that the mean frequency of “m” responses was higher (p<0.05) in the high conflict group.From these two experiments, we may conclude that the “m” response in the Rorschach test is significantly related to (1) experimentally induced conflict and (2) verbally measured conflict.These findings were discussed from the view-point of Berlyne's information theory.

REGRESSION AND CREATIVITY

On the basis of the present study of creative artists, it is possible to say that M is related to creativity and to ideational productivity, but it does not reflect the degree of talent, the degree of motivation or the capacity to use a potential for creativity productively. Neither one of the original hypotheses about good and bad artists was supported. The quantitative analyses of the Rorschach records of both successful (good) and unsuccessful (bad) artists as well as of the high M nonartists yielded essentially the same picture. Creative talent and its productive use can be identified, however, by evaluating the presence of primary process thinking in the Rorschach protocol of the artist. In addition, the records of the successful artists contained greater freedom and richness of associations. This is quite different from the more intellectually colored energy measured by M and W. There was also greater and more intense projection of feeling both in description and elaboration of the responses and in secondary associations to them. The successful artists made more spontaneous comments and expressions, both of horror and of pleasure, indicating a greater-mobility of affect and of the defense mechanisms. The looseness and freedom of the associations also suggest a peculiar and pervasive, free-floating anxiety covering up great vigor and vitality of instinctual energy. This energy is easily available and emerges in archaic content or autistic elaboration or direct exclamations, and it is quickly followed by appropriate reality-bound secondary process thinking. The alternation of primary-secondary process thinking and the frequent vivid emotional expressions are reminiscent of Guilford's factors of fluency, flexibility and originality (10). Further research relating these factors to content analysis of the Rorschach seems warranted and is in progress.

Object-representations and object-relationships in Rorschach responses.

Abstract This paper presents an object-relational view of Rorschach content. The existence within the self of images of others is a pre-condition of social development. The availability of a repertoire of personal imagery, the range and emotional quality of one's representations of others, the degree of fusion which tends to occur between self and others, the characterization of self and others, and the kinds of expectancies one carries into each encounter with the people and things of his world — all are facets of a person's relationship potential which, it is suggested, may be inferred from the content of a Rorschach protocol. Patients' general level of psychopathology and some more specific attributes of their psychopathology inferred from Rorschach content proved to be highly effective indicators of the psychopathology revealed in extensive psychiatric, psychological and social work interviews.

Projective imagery in Shakespeare.

Abstract In a passage in Hamlet, the hero describes the changing imagery he sees in a cloud. The projection of definite shapes onto an amorphous stimulus strongly suggests a parallel to the Rorschach test. These responses are interpreted as though they occurred on a regular Rorschach protocol. Thus analyzed, they show the breakthrough of Oedipal impulses at a crucial turning point of the play.

Predictive efficiency as a function of amount of information and level of professional experience.

Abstract Both the amount of information available to judges and their level of professional training have been identified as variables relevant to accurate personality predictions. This study represented an attempt to determine the optimal amount of Rorschach protocol information essential to accurate personality descriptions for judges at various levels of professional experience. Four groups of 25 judges (Fellows in the Society for Projective Techniques, recently graduated Ph.D.'s, Graduate and Undergraduate students) responded to sets of true-false personality statements which referred to a patient whose Rorschach protocol had been supplied to them. The results indicated that aside from occasional exceptions: 1. No significant improvement in predictive accuracy occurred as the level of training and/or experience increased. 2. Increases in the amount of protocol information did not significantly improve the judges' understanding of the patient, as measured by the criterion. 3. The Rorschach appears best...

集団ロールシャッハ法により心理診断に用いられるスコアリング仮定の統計的分析

In scoring a Rorschach protocol it is customary to classify each response with respect to several classes of factors, such as content, portion of ink blots interpreted, and ink blot characteristics determining the response. As a second step in scoring, the total number of responses falling in each category is ascertained.The device of categorizing the responses and then of finding the total number of responses in each category carries the following two assumptions.1. All the responses falling in a given category are similar in some behavioral respect.2. The psychological significance of responses falling in a given category is different in some respect from responses placed in other categories.In order to test these assumptions the purpose of the present study is to provide an answer to the following hypotheses. A) The tendency that the relationships between pairs of the responses differing from each other with respect to scoring category are less predominant than the relationships between pairs of the responses falling in the same scoring category, is sufficiently significant to support the implications of the two assumptions above mentioned, B) The degree to which Rorscrach responses are intercorrelated is a function of the number of scoring categories that the responses have in common. C) The response clusters revealed by the factor analysis of the intercorrelations among carefully selected sixteen responses are congruent with any current theory and practice concerning the Rorschach, particularly with those which are reflected in abstract scoring categories.The data for the present analysis were the responses of 120 Kagawa University undergraduates to the Rorschach Ranknig Test. The intercorrelations among selected sixteen responses were computed and submitted to a centroid factor.The findings obtained may be summarized as follows:1. The tendency for human movemet (M) responses to be associated with other human movement (M) responses was significantly stronger than the tendency for such responses to be associated with controlled color responses (FC) and (CF). But hypothesis A did not apply to other scoring categories.2. The evidence for hypothesis B met a criterion for statistical significance. But the trend was slight and there were numerous important exceptions.3. The data of the factor analysis suggested that response content with its implied associations and projections might play an important role in detemining the functional similarities and dissimilarities of certain responses, particularly those which involved movement.The scant support which Hypothesis A, B and C receive is considered to be the indication that the usual abstract scoring procedures have not so much value as we have expected in attempts to appraise the behavioral significance of Rorschach responses.

A Measure of Adjustment Obtained from the Rorschach Protocol

(1950). A Measure of Adjustment Obtained from the Rorschach Protocol. Journal of Projective Techniques: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 31-38.