Rorschach Contributions to Assessment of Suicide Risk (IN: Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention of Suicidal Behavior, edited by R I Yufit & D Lester)

This chapter opens with a discussion of the various ways in which the Rorschach has been used to assess suicide risk, including single sign approaches & the Rorschach suicide constellation. The strengths & weaknesses of these approaches are reviewed. Recent research contributions, clinical risk factors for suicide & the Rorschach, & a case history in […]

Convergence of Self-Report Scales and Rorschach Indexes of Psychological Distress: the Moderating Role of Self-Disclosure

The authors examined the weak associations found in research between self-report measures & the Rorschach text from the perspective of Bornstein’s (2002) process dissociation framework. The focus was on associations between self-report measures of psychological distress & their corresponding Rorschach indexes while inspecting the moderating role of self-disclosure. 59 nonpatient Israeli adults participated in a […]

Suicide, 5-HIAA and Shameful Self Evaluation

Published in “Back to the Future: Refocusing the Image of Suicide,” ed. by J L McIntosh

“I am Nobody”: a Case Study of Suicidal Dynamics in Pedophilia

The authors describe a patient at acute suicide risk. His Rorschach protocol was analyzed using Exner’s Comprehensive System & a number of psychoanalytic scales. The results pointed at a predominance of borderline defences, identification with abusers & victims, symbiotic & violent interpersonal relations, self-fragmentation, & intertwined dynamics of suicide & pedophilia. His suicide dynamics consist […]

The Rorschach Suicide Constellation: Assessing Various Degrees of Lethality

The authors examine the relation between the Rorschach Comprehensive System’s Suicide Constellation and lethality of suicide attempts during the course of patients’ hospitalization at the Austen Riggs Center (Stockbridge, MA). Patient records were rated as nonsuicidal, parasuicidal, or near-lethal based on the presence and lethality of self-destructive acts. Diagnostic efficiency statistics utilizing a cutoff score […]

A Review of Recent Research Addressing the Utility of the Rorschach

The author synthesized 138 empirical quantitative studies published in the past 20 years to address the utility of the Rorschach test. Methodological issues (such as diversity), applications (such as suicidal risk) & selected Rorschach variables are addressed. Results indicate that many Rorschach variables are efficient tools for clinical, forensic, & educational applications. (198 refs) (SC)

On the Prediction of Suicide From the Rorschach

The last comprehensive reviews of research on whether the Rorschach can be used to predict suicide were done in the 1970s. All of these concluded that there was not much support for this assumption; however all reviewers pointed to methodological issues which might have diluted or obscured the relationship. Little research has been done since […]

The Impact of Response Frequency on the Rorschach Constellation Indices and on Their Validity With Diagnostic and MMPI-2 Criteria

The findings reported in this article highlight the significant impact response frequency (R) has on other Rorschach scores & on the Rorschach’s relationship to external criteria. The data also underscore the need for examiners to be sentiviely attuned to the dynamics of the patient & testing relationship to understand what factors cause R to vary. […]

The Rorschach Test for Predicting Suicide Among Depressed Adolescent Inpatients

A sample of 25 severely depressed & suicidal adolescents; 26 severely depressed, not suicidal adolescents & 28 not suicidal, not depressed adolescents was selected. A Rorschach Index was developed to predict group membership. 4 of 6 of the features on this index chose 64% of suicidal subjects. This constellation included traditional affective variables as well […]

Ego Structure and Object Differentiation in Suicidal Patients (IN: Primitive Mental States and the Rorschach, ed. by H D Lerner & P M Lerner)

This article is based on an “ego vulnerabilities” approach to suicide assessment. The authors believe that certain patterns of ego functions predispose a person, who is facing major life frustrations, to suicidal behavior. Assessing suicidality can therefore be aided by analyzing ego structures & dynamic motivations, & looking at external events which may be perceived […]

Cognitive Regression and Dynamic Factors in Suicide: an Integrative Approach (IN: Primitive Mental States and the Rorschach, ed. by H D Lerner & P M Lerner)

This article describes the cognitive aspects of suicidality & the validity of the Rorschach test in assessing these components. The author reviews the studies on cognitive factors & suicide, & provides a case history involving cognitive regression. She concludes that the Rorschach displays all the important features expected in such a model, including marginal reality […]

Rorschach Evaluation of Adolescent Bulimics

The present study utilized the Rorschach to contrast 12 DSM-III-R diagnosed adolescent bulimics with 12 female adolescent controls. Measures were taken of thought disturbance, depression, suicidality, coping style, anger & negativity. Bulimics were found to be more depressed, self-punitive & negativistic than their peers. The authors argue that the severity of these symptoms increase if […]

Single-Sign Rorschach Suicide Indicators: a Validity Study Using a Depressed Inpatient Population

This study tests the validity of using single responses on the Rorschach as a indicators of current suicidal risk. Applebaum & Holzman’s (1962) color-shading sign was found to be related to low suicidal risk. Blatt & Ritzler’s (1974) transparency sign was found to be unrelated to current suicide risk but still related to a past […]

Comprehensive System Rorschach Data on Vietnam Combat Veterans

To better understand & treat Vietnam combat veterns with a diagnosis of PTSD, the Rorschach was administered to 50 Ss so diagnosed. The most important findings were that, on average: these Ss have a low level of stress tolerance & are likely to respond impulsively to stress situations; this low stress tolerance appears to be […]

Violent and Nonviolent Suicide Attempts – a Controlled Rorschach Study

In this study, Rorschach records from 20 patients who had made violent suicide attempts were compared with 20 drug overdose patients & 20 psychiatric control patients who had not made an attempt. Violent attempters were more paranoid, less able to cope with conflict situations, handle dyshopric affect, differentiate between reality & fantasy, & had lower […]

Application of Piotrowski’s Dark Shading Hypothesis to Sylvia Plath’s Poems Written Before her Suicide

This article discusses the poem “Daddy” which Sylvia Plath wrote a few months before her suicide. The use of the words “black” & “dark” are frequently used in this, & her earlier works. Author states that the use of these words would be of interest in exploring other writers’ work which was written prior to […]

A Comparison of the Psychological Evaluation of Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa and of Adolescents With Conduct Disorders

Cognitive & projective psychological tests were given to 20 female adolescents: 10 with anorexia nervosa & 10 with conduct disorders. All subjects were selected on the basis of race, sex, & overall intelligence. A significant finding was that there were far more suicidal indicators on the Rorschach records in the anorexia group as compared to […]

Depression in the Elderly (Micro HQ 1061 673 1985)

This study was undertaken to compare depression assessment tools used with an aged population. Subjects (n=40) were selected from participants of a free geriatric health screening program. Assessment tools included the GDS,BDI,& the RDI. One hypothesis tested was that since 25% of suicides occur in the over 65 age group, the Rorschach Suicide Constellation would […]

Rorschach Inkblot Test Assessment of Suicidal Risk (IN: Psychological Assessment of Suicidal Risk, ed. by C Neuringer)

Are Words of the Rorschach Predictors of Disease and Death? The Case of “Whirling”.

The frequency with which the word ‘whirling’ & similar words (whirlall words) were used in Rorschach tests administered to 1154 medical students 20-35 years has been counted by computer. Subjects were assigned to different groups according to their health status as of December 1982. When the proportion of subjects using whirlall words was compared across […]

Sweet Sorrow: The Color-Shading Response in an Adult Cystic Fibrosis Population

Research on the color-shading response on the Rorschach has been limited previously to its use as a predictor of suicide. Adult cystic fibrosis patients were administered a battery of psychological tests, including the Rorschach. While these patients face premature death, none of these patients were suicidal. A higher than usual incidence of color-shading responses occurred, […]

Assessment of Psychological Tests Findings in Suicide Attempts

This study assesses the feasibility of traditional tests-the Rorschach, MMPI & SCT- in discriminating suicidal patients. From those who were depressed. A sample of 40 attempters ( 20 males, 20 females) were matched with a like number of male & female depressives, according to sex & age. The groups were compared on the basis of […]

Suicide and its Archetypal Themes in Rorschach Record Study of a Male Attempter

The archetypal themes activated by the stimuli contained in Rorschach plates exposed the inner psychic struggle of a 27-year-old male who subsequently attempted suicide. The lethal suicide attempt originated from the psychic tension between the ego structure & its relationship with figures of the unconscious, &, therefore, contained the paradoxical quality of destruction/liberation of the […]