Construct validation of the Rorschach Reality-Fantasy Scale in alexithymia.

The study applies Winnicott's conceptualization of potential space to the alexithymia construct by using a new Rorschach index, the Reality-Fantasy Scale (RFS). The scale uses variables derived from the Rorschach Comprehensive System (Exner, 2000, 2001) to detect different types of psychopathological manifestations conceptualized as forms of collapse of potential space. Following previous research, the present study further evaluates the construct validity of the RFS in a sample of 92 patients with inflammatory bowel disease, categorized on the basis of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) as alexithymic, indeterminate alexithymia, and nonalexithymic groups. As hypothesized, the RFS significantly correlated with the TAS-20, discriminated among the 3 groups, and showed incremental validity in detecting alexithymia over isolated Rorschach markers. The study supports the exploration of psychoanalytic ideas by empirical, statistically based methods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Protecting the integrity of the legal system: The admissibility of testimony from mental health experts under Daubert/Kumho analyses.

The authors discussed to what degree testimony from social science and mental health experts (psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, therapists, others) meets admissibility requirements expressed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Daubert (1993), Joiner ( General Electric Co. v. Joiner , 1997) and the recent Kumho (1999) decision. They reviewed data on Daubert/Kumho indicia of reliability using 2 exemplar areas of mental health testimony: psychodiagnostic assessment by means of the Rorschach and other "projective" assessment techniques and the diagnoses of posttraumatic stress disorder and multiple personality disorder (dissociative identity disorder). They concluded that some testimony offered by mental health professionals relating to these concepts should not survive scrutiny under the framework of Daubert , Joiner , and Kumho . (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Rorschach and Holtzman as measures of pathognomic verbalization.

This study was planned to obtain information about the reliability of Rorschach and Holtzman pathognomic verbalization scores (V). The Rorschach and Holtzman protocols of 45 psychiatric patients were scored by scorer A and 19 of the Holtzman protocols were scored "blind" by scorer B. Holtzman interscorer reliability was .81 (p     

Review of Rorschach with Children.

Reviews the book, Rorschach with Children by Jessie Francis-Williams (1968). Those who have worked with Lady Francis-Williams know her to be an extremely skillful clinician who, in practice, very carefully uses a battery of tests, selected for the particular case, and who weighs the evidence judiciously before making evaluative statements. Therefore, it is with regret that one finds that the present book does not measure up to the standards set by the author in her daily work. More specifically, as is so often the case, nowadays, the chapters bear little relation one to another. It seems, also, that the book reveals contradictory aims. In all, the book is a compilation of mainly useful and interesting case studies (organic, psychotic, deprivation and learning disability syndromes) rounded out by a very good chapter on the use of a test battery in a longitudinal study (Ch. 10) and some very sketchy theoretical and methodological chapters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Protecting the integrity of Rorschach expert witnesses: A reply to Grove and Barden (1999) re: The admissibility of testimony under Daubert/Kumho analyses.

The Rorschach Comprehensive System has been considered by W. M. Grove and R. C. Barden (1999) as inadmissible for expert psychological testimony according to the guidelines from the Daubert (1993), Joiner (1997), and Kumho (1999) decisions. This article refutes W. M. Grove and R. C. Barden's conclusions, arguing that the Rorschach Comprehensive System is (a) testable, (b) valid and reliable, (c) extensively peer reviewed, (d) associated with a reasonable error rate, (e) standardized, (f) accepted by a relevant and substantial scientific community, and (g) appropriate for a wide range of forensic issues. In drawing their negative conclusions, W. A Grove and R. C. Barden overlooked or minimized a substantial body of empirical data supporting the reliability and validity of the Rorschach Comprehensive System and misinterpreted the language and intent of the Supreme Court decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Orality and depression: An empirical study.

Despite much theoretical speculation and some indirect evidence, no study has empirically assessed the relationship of orality to depression. In the present investigation, two separate samples of male college students (N? = 276; N? = 141) completed both the Rorschach test and the Depression Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ). More DEQ items correlated significantly with a Rorschach orality measure than would be expected by chance, but the magnitude of these correlations was small. Item analysis suggests that dependency is less a factor in depression than is a personality constellation marked by egocentrism, immaturity, fear of rejection, helplessness, and lack of integration. The results of this study are limited by its use of nonclinically disturbed male subjects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prestage versus defensive splitting and the borderline personality: A Rorschach analysis.

This paper reviews theoretical contributions by Kernberg (1975) and by Stolorow and Lachmann (1980) regarding defensive modes of splitting and suggests possible Rorschach manifestations for a variety of levels of defensive organization among borderline patients. Defensive operations vary among patients with different levels of severity of borderline psychopathology. Specifically, it is proposed that some borderline patients rely on splitting as an active attempt to mitigate the experience of intense ambivalence conflicts toward others, as described by Kernberg; another group of borderline patients is seen as having pathology that revolves around a weakly integrated representational world, poor self-object differentiation, and prestage developmental levels of defense, as described by Stolorow and Lachmann. The Rorschach is a valuable diagnostic tool in distinguishing between psychopathology involving defenses against structural conflict and psychopathology based on an arrest in development at the level of prestage defensive operations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of internalized object relations in borderline and schizophrenic patients.

This paper explores two dimensions of internalized object relations in borderline and schizophrenic patients using Rorschach scales. A thematic and a structural Rorschach measure of object relations is applied to the Rorschachs of two borderline groups (an infantile personality group and an obsessive-paranoid group) and a schizophrenic group. The findings suggest the value of both a multidimensional definition of internalized object relations and the use of such an approach to clarifying the diagnostic concept of borderline personality disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Rorschach and TAT indices of homosexuality in overt homosexuals, neurotics, and normal males": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Anthony Davids, Mark Joelson, and Charles McArthur (Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology, 1956[Sept], 53, 161-172). In the section on TAT results, under the heading of Signs suggested for further confirmation (p. 168), it states incorrectly (line 15) that the sign of a strong unresolved attachment to a father or father figure was scored in stories composed for Card 8. The sign was in fact scored in stories composed for TAT Card 7. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1958-02891-001). Rorschach and TAT protocols of 20 male overt homosexuals, 20 male neurotics, and 20 normal male students were compared in order to determine whether proposed homosexual signs were discriminative. The homosexual group gave a significantly greater mean number of the Rorschach and TAT signs than did either nonhomosexual group. "Within the homosexual group, correlation between the number of Rorschach signs and number of TAT signs produced by each S proved significant, serving as a check on the validity of both schemes and indicating the consistency of these 2 diverse measures of homosexuality." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Developments in the Rorschach technique.

Reviews the book, Developments in the Rorschach technique Vol. 1. Technique and theory by Mary D Ainsworth, Robert R. Holt, Bruno Klopfer, and Walter G. Klopfer (see record 1954-07533-000). There is something for everyone in this first volume of a two-volume work on the Rorschach. Probably the primary use of the book will be as a teaching manual for students learning the mechanics of scoring and the feeling for interpretation, but even experienced users of the technique may read with profit the sections on theory and interpretation. The sections on administration and scoring are written clearly and numerous examples are provided to clarify scoring problems. There is some clarification of methods of scoring shading responses though these distinctions are likely to continue to be frustrating to students. Ten popular responses are listed-the same ones as twelve years ago, and a slightly different list from that offered by other experts. The form-level rating procedure, an attempt to give a numerical score for each percept reflecting its accuracy, will continue to baffle statisticians and others with a bias against adding, subtracting, and averaging cabbages and kings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)