A scientific critique of Rorschach research: Revisiting Exner’s Issues and Methods in Rorschach Research (1995).
Exner’s (1995a) Issues and Methods in Rorschach Research provided a standard of care for conducting Rorschach research; however, the extent to which studies have followed these guidelines has not been examined. Similarly, meta-analytic approaches have been used to comment on the validity of Exner’s Comprehensive System (CS) variables without an evaluation as to the extent that individual studies have conformed to the proposed methodological criteria (Exner, 1995a; Gacono, Loving, & Bodholdt, 2001). In this article, 210 studies cited in recent meta-analyses by Mihura, Meyer, Dumitrascu, and Bombel (2013) were examined. ...
Source: Rorschachiana - November 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Toward a Rorschach hope index.
In this study, we derive a measure of hope from the Rorschach. Drawing on an integrative approach to hope, we identify six Rorschach variables, representing two dimensions each of: interpersonal perceptions, coping resources, and goal engagement. We empirically validate these variables against theoretically linked measures of attachment, coping, and mastery. We propose a Rorschach State Hope Index. To illustrate one potential benefit of this new measure, we apply the Hope Index retrospectively to an individual who died by suicide despite a relatively low score on the existing Suicide Constellation of the Comprehensive Syst...
Source: Rorschachiana - November 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Clients’ TAT interpersonal decentering predicts psychotherapy retention and process.
This naturalistic pilot study examined interpersonal decentering, a form of social cognitive maturity and self–other mentalizing scored from the Thematic Apperception Test, as a client personality variable that might predict psychotherapy retention and clients’ perceptions of in-session process. Clients having difficulty with mature decentering might struggle to engage in therapy, need different interventions, and be at risk for therapy dropout. Thematic Apperception Test stories were gathered from new outpatient therapy clients soon after their intake session. Interpersonal decentering scores from the nine stories wer...
Source: Rorschachiana - November 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A normative study in England with the Rorschach comprehensive system.
This study provides Rorschach data for 88 adults aged 18–65 years from the general population in England. The sample was matched as closely as possible with census data on the variables of gender, age, marital status, ethnicity, geographical location, occupation, and level of education. The Rorschach was administered according to the Comprehensive System by five experienced psychologists. Participants also completed a measure of psychological distress called the CORE. Interscorer reliability was found to be excellent for all variables apart from the six cognitive special scores, for which it was fair. Rorschach data are ...
Source: Rorschachiana - November 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Vera Campo, 1927–2018.
Memorializes the life of Vera Campo, who passed away in Barcelona on April 14, 2018. She was president of the Argentine Society of Rorschach, and founder of the Spanish Society (of which she was editor of its magazine until the end of her life), and was also a founding partner of the Catalan Society of Rorschach and Projective Methods, which she also presided. She was a long-standing member of Rorschachiana’s Editorial Board. Vera Campo’s outstanding contributions included many articles for the journal as well as being a sharp and meticulous reviewer. She will be greatly missed by the Rorschach community. (PsycINFO Dat...
Source: Rorschachiana - May 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
“Investigating personality and psychopathology in patients with psoriasis”: Correction to Vari et al., 2017.
This study aimed to examine psychopathology and personality in a group of patients affected by psoriasis by means of a self-report measure (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory – MCMI-III) and a performance-based technique (Wartegg Drawing Completion Test [WDCT], CWS). Study results showed a higher rate of passive-aggressiveness and paranoia among psoriatic patients (MCMI-III). When assessing patients through the performance-based technique (WDCT, CWS), a higher rate of global rejection (GR) – linked by previous literature to suicidal ideation – and a lower affective quality of the drawings emerged. We discuss the cl...
Source: Rorschachiana - May 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
SCZI or PTI – schizophrenia or psychosis? A follow-up study.
This paper attempts to illustrate the usefulness of therapy follow-up studies with the Rorschach, based on a particularly striking and difficult protocol (including Structural Summary 1 and 2), in which the two indexes pointed to either schizophrenia (Schizophrenia Index, SCZI) or a psychotic episode (Perceptual-Thinking Index, PTI) in an adolescent whose later development was distinctly positive. Implications of the interpretive process are discussed, of the use of both indexes in favor of the PTI, as well as of the danger of depending on single indexes or of using the Rorschach for psychiatric diagnosis. (PsycINFO Databa...
Source: Rorschachiana - May 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The Italian translation of Exner’s FQ tables: Need for a critical edition and for a shared standard.
The article takes into consideration the four Italian translations (2003, 2007, 2016, 2017) of the Rorschach Comprehensive System Form Quality Tables (Exner, 2001), with reference to the original English version, highlighting the urgency to verify a number of possible errors that – if proven – would be necessary to rectify. In light of these considerations, we underline the need for an Italian critical edition, as a step toward a shared standard for a scientific instrument that must insure uniformity of results among Comprehensive System users. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Rorschachiana)
Source: Rorschachiana - May 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Differential performance of professional dancers to the Music Apperception Test and the Thematic Apperception Test.
This project compared the relative performance of professional dancers and nondancers on the Music Apperception Test (MAT; van den Daele, 2014), then compared dancers’ performance on the MAT with that on the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943). The MAT asks respondents to “tell a story to the music” in compositions written to represent basic emotions. Dancers had significantly shorter response latency and were more fluent in storytelling than a comparison group matched for gender and age. Criterion-based evaluation of dancers’ narratives found narrative emotion consistent with music written to portray th...
Source: Rorschachiana - May 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Police trauma and Rorschach indicators: An exploratory study.
This study is the first to our knowledge to focus on posttraumatic symptomatology among crime scene investigators (CSIs) and explore its relationship with their personality functioning as measured by Rorschach. Considering that posttraumatic symptomatology can affect decision-making, which is of crucial importance in police work, police officers’ evaluations should include an assessment of trauma-related impairments. The study was carried out on a sample of 64 male CSIs (85% of all Slovene CSIs). Posttraumatic symptomatology was found to be more frequent among CSIs than among the general population. Avoidance appears to ...
Source: Rorschachiana - May 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Review of Essentials of Rorschach assessment: Comprehensive system and R-PAS.
Reviews the book, Essentials of Rorschach Assessment: Comprehensive System and R-PAS by Jessica R. Gurley (see record 2016-52143-000). As a long-time user of the Comprehensive System, the reviewer celebrates the publication of this admirable effort not only to present the two systems now in use, but moreover to compare them. Chapters on the Comprehensive Systems describe administration, scoring, and interpretation. Four chapters describing R-PAS follow. The chapters are arranged in the same way as the chapters on the Comprehensive System, going through test administration, scoring, interpretation, and finally a case presen...
Source: Rorschachiana - November 27, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Emotional perception and distortion correlates with Rorschach cognitive and interpersonal variables.
Although emotional intelligence is frequently measured with performance tasks, they are often correlated with self-report measures of personality. The present research compared the scores of two performance tests: the Rorschach Inkblot Method for personality (scored using R-PAS), and the Computerized Test of Primary Emotions Perception for emotional perception and understanding, branches of emotional intelligence. Participants were 93 Brazilian people, including undergraduates and psychiatric outpatients. Significant correlations were found, ranging from .20 to .37. The results indicate that the ability to perceive emotion...
Source: Rorschachiana - November 27, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Cultural differences in the emotional indicators of the two-people drawing test.
The study aims to identify differences in the emotional indicators attributable to cultural variables in the Two Human Figures Test (T2F) of Maganto and Garaigordobil (2009) and to obtain standards of the test for the Indian Yaqui children (Mexico). A representative sample of 654 children aged 5–11 years was used. We conducted a validation study of the emotional items for this sample that met the three criteria established by the authors: (1) they distinguish between clinical and nonclinical groups, (2) they are not developmental, and (3) they have a low frequency (less than 10%). The results show large differences in th...
Source: Rorschachiana - November 27, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Sex assignment to whole human responses in Rorschach.
According to the theory of identification, men are more likely to qualify their Rorschach human content responses as males, and women as females. These assumptions were tested in an empirical investigation using a Belgian nonpatient sample of 800. All human responses and their location were listed. Analyses were carried out on the 10 Cards and on the formal quality (FQo vs. FQu/−) of all human responses according to the subject’s and the examiner’s sex. Variables were first submitted to principal component analysis, and resulting components were compared in a 2 × 2 design in order to assess examiners’ and particip...
Source: Rorschachiana - November 27, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Investigating personality and psychopathology in patients with psoriasis.
This study aimed to examine psychopathology and personality in a group of patients affected by psoriasis by means of a self-report measure (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory – MCMI-III) and a performance-based technique (Wartegg Drawing Completion Test [WDCT], CWS). Study results showed a higher rate of passive-aggressiveness and paranoia among psoriatic patients (MCMI-III). When assessing patients through the performance-based technique (WDCT, CWS), a higher rate of global rejection (GR) – linked by previous literature to suicidal ideation – and a lower affective quality of the drawings emerged. We discuss the cl...
Source: Rorschachiana - November 27, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
