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The authors examine the ethical use of the Rorschach test, of questionable nature, in clinical, legal, and forensic occupations

The authors present 11 theoretical and empirical short comings of the Rorschach test which are discussed in detail.

The authors present a comparison between the Roschach test and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory test describing tendencies and estimates of testing.

The authors examines the use, validity, and utility of the Rorschach inkblot test in an on going series of articles which discusses behaviorism and psychological research concluding there is no scientific basis for the use of the test.

The author examines the use, validity, and utility of the Rorschach inkblot test in an on going series of articles which discusses behaviorism and psychological research.

The author examines the use, validity, and utility of the Rorschach test in an on-going series of articles.

The author defends the use of the Ego Impairment Index (EII) to assess thought disturbance and predict positive symptoms of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. The EII is a Rorschach measure of reasoning, perception and cognition.

A study on the effective use of Rorschach variables to identify narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) based on the methodology recommended by T. Nezworski and J. Wood (1995) is presented. Scores of 91 patients who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria and 50 nonclinical individuals were compared on five Rorschach variables. Findings show that selected Rorschach variables can identify accurately NPD patients from a nonclinical group.

Three-hundred and two psychiatric inpatients (166 women and 136 men) completed Masling, Rabie, and Blondheim's Rorschach Oral Dependency (ROD) Scale and the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale Revised (WAIS-R). As predicted, ROD scale scores were unrelated to WAIS-R scores in subjects of either sex. These findings support the discriminant validity of the ROD scale as a measure of interpersonal dependency, and suggest that deficits in intellectual ability do not underlie the dependency-related behaviors (e.g., suggestibility, conformity, interpersonal yielding) that are associated with high scores on the ROD scale. Implications of these findings for research on the dependency-academic performance relationship are discussed, and suggestions for future studies assessing the convergent and discriminant validity of the ROD scale are offered.

This study focused on the clinical field validity of the Rorschach comprehensive system revised DEPI and CDI indices. Forty admission protocols from two inpatient adult DSM-III-R diagnosed samples, one with Major Depressive Disorder, uncomplicated, and one with Major Depressive Disorder and concurrent Borderline Personality Disorder, were compared. Hypotheses were (a) both groups would be identified by the revised DEPI and (b) if the Depressed Borderline group was not identified by the DEPI, it would be identified by the CDI. Both hypotheses were negated, raising questions regarding the validity of the indices for use in clinical diagnosis, treatment, and clinical research.

In this study, measures were developed that compared conventional Form accuracy and the ratio of Special Scores on Cards VIII-X (Color Cards) with overall Rorschach scores. Two new measures, a Color Card Perception Difference (CCPD) score and a Special Score Difference (SSD) score were used for this purpose. CCPD and SSD scores were calculated by subtracting component X + % scores and weighted Special Score ratios found on the overall Rorschach from those unique to Cards VIII - X. CCPD scores were found to be highly effective in differentiating a previously diagnosed borderline from a schizophrenic group. CCPD and SSD scores were correlated with MMPI scales for profile characteristics.

A research review shows that the Rorschach Inkblot Method is valid and useful in differentiating state and trait personality variables, measuring developmental maturation, monitoring change in psychotherapy, and assessing experienced distress in posttraumatic stress disorder. Predictive validity of Rorschach variables is less extensive than their concurrent validity. However, careless and incompetent use of Rorschach Inkblot Method can lower its psychometric soundness and practical utility.

The Comprehensive System for the Rorschach is unreliable, despite its wide acceptance, and its validity has yet to be established. Basic issues related to the validity and interrater reliability of the Comprehensive System needs to be resolved, and there are not published studies on the system to justify its widespread acceptance. Field studies of the administration, scoring and recording practices of psychologists are necessary to validate the Comprehensive System. Existing empirical evidence for the validity of indices that directly influence clinical decision making is negligible.

INTRODUCTION The annual yield of personality assessment research continues to grow, and the number of new journals and books devoted to personality test applications has increased over the past decade. [...]

This presentation is an extension and amplification of the ego-psychological assessment of Rorschach data initiated in 1946 by Rapaport, Gill, and Schafer whose focus was on the quality of the perception of reality and the assessment of defence. A more contemporary view of ego psychology not only includes an expanded view of defence but also of the nature of self- and object representations and the nature of object relations. An assessment of the synthesizing function of the ego was also discussed. The present purpose was to present a comprehensive assessment of Rorschach data from the point of view of contemporary ego psychology.

Examined here are the effects of gender and Visual Imagery Reactivity in 80 consecutively selected psychiatric outpatients. The participants were grouped by gender and by the amounts of responsiveness to preceding therapy work using imagery (Imagery Nonreactors and Reactors). In the group of Imagery Nonreactors were 13 men and 22 women, and in the Reactor group were 17 men and 28 women. Compared were the responses to standard Rorschach (Conventional condition) with visual associations to memory images of Rorschach inkblots (Imagery condition). Responses were scored using the Visual Imagery Reactivity (VIR) scoring system, a general, test-nonspecific scoring method. Nonparametric statistical analysis showed that critical indicators of Imagery Reactivity encoded as High Affect/Conflict score and its derivatives associated with sexual or bizarre content were not significantly associated with gender; neither was Neutral Content score which categorizes 'non-Reactivity.' These results support the notion that system's criteria of Visual Imagery Reactivity can be applied equally to both men and women for the classification of Imagery Reactors and Nonreactors. Discussed are also the speculative consequences of extending the tolerance range of significance levels for the interaction between Reactivity and sex above the customary limit of p < .05 in borderline cases. The results of such an analysis may imply a trend towards more rigid defensiveness under Imagery and toward lesser verbal productivity in response to either the Conventional or the Imagery task among women who are Nonreactors. In Reactors, men produced significantly more Sexual Reference scores (in the subcategory not associated with High Affect/Conflict) than women, but this could be attributed to the effect of tester's and subjects' gender combined.

The Rorschach inkblot test is commonly used in the psychological evaluation of children. Yet there is little information about the Rorschach performance of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The responses of 24 children rigorously diagnosed with ADHD were scored using the Exner system and compared with normative data. Given their greater impulsivity, poor attention span, and increased responsivity to external stimuli, we predicted that, when compared to norms, the ADHD group would have more color dominant responses (CF), a lower FC:CF+C ratio, fewer human movement responses (M), lower sumM:WsumC and sumM + WsumC ratios, poorer form quality (X-%), and would have the same number of or more detail (D) responses. The results yielded support only for those hypotheses concerning M, X-%, and sumM:WsumC. Comparisons between small subgroups with and without ODD suggested differences in the frequency of Human but not Aggressive responses. Possible reasons for the discrepancies from predictions are discussed.

While the research on the use of the Rorschach to assess object relations has been comprehensively reviewed in 1990 by Fishler, Sperling, and Carr and by Stricker and Healey, the research on the use of the Rorschach to assess object representations has not. This was the purpose of this paper. Research on the structure and content of Rorschach-derived object representations were examined. This research indicates that severity of clinical manifestation of psychopathology is accompanied by severity of distortion in the structure of Rorschach percepts and their perceived malevolence. Issues raised by this research and the kinds of research still needed were discussed.

Analysis of the data on children with borderline personality disorder according to the Rorschach autisms is considered along with current theoretical hypotheses of adult borderline psychopathology and examination of the association between child and adult borderline disorders. A case study of a sexually abused child is used as an illustration.

Analysis of a taxonomy of Rorschach autisms of perceptual-cognitive disorders scored on 3 categories through the Rorschachs of outpatient schizophrenics, inpatient schizophrenics, borderline personality disorders and Cluster A personality disorders revealed that the Rorschach categories HYPOs and HYPERs gave improved differential diagnoses than RELERs among all the patients indicating the validity of such scores in regular screening for thought disorders.

The validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is better than the Rorschach Test. The MMPI was able to explain 23% to 30% of the variance while the Rorschach could only explain 8% to 13% of the variance. There are no theoretical data to support the view that both tests would do well in actual use. In previous studies, two or three of the MMPI validity scales have been correlated with a criterion measure. It implies that the median effect size is zero if the other scales are unrelated to the criterion.

The author critiques the validity inconsistency of the Ego Impairment Index (EII), a Rorschach measure of reasoning, perception and cognition. The author also points out that issues surrounding incremental validity are typically focused on predictive model coefficients, rather than degree of predictability specifically.