Homosexuality in paranoid schizophrenia as revealed by the Rorschach test.

Abstract Introduction: The specific character of Rorschach test responses of parents who had a child with schizophrenia has been reported many times. The analysis presented in this paper is focused on responses commenting on movement seen in the inkblots. According to Zygmunt Piotrowski, these responses reflect the prototypal role – self-concepts and a certain pattern of responding that can be understood as phenomena related to the concept of self. Material and method: I used the Rorschach test to examine 32 couples of parents who had a child suffering from paranoid schizophrenia (as defined in DSM-IV) and 21 couples of parents who had only healthy children. Results: Parents of schizophrenic children gave significantly fewer human movement responses than parents of healthy children, and some features of these responses give them a specific character. The groups of fathers differed from each other to a greater degree than the groups of mothers. The analysis of relationships between movement responses and shading (chiaroscuro) responses, which are regarded as a measure of anxiety, revealed significant associations in the case of some movement qualities. The exception was that movement quality which is referred to as blocked movement and blocked-posture movement in Piotrowski’s interpretive scheme. All movement qualities globally considered were significantly correlated with anxiety, the exceptions being the group of parents of healthy children and the group of all fathers. Discussion: The smaller number of human movement responses found in the group of parents of schizophrenic children may attest to these people’s lower psychological maturity, which is associated with a less distinctly formed prototypal role. Moreover, certain specific features of these responses can be interpreted as a sign of difficulties in expressing this role. The cooccurrence of movement responses with shading responses, which are treated as a sign of anxiety, was not always consistent with expectations; this should be considered a reason to reflect on the psychological meaning of these responses and on the possible return to Rorschach’s original views. Conclusions: The results of the study suggest lower maturity in the case of parents of schizophrenic children, manifesting itself in a less strongly developed prototypal role and certain difficulties in expressing this role. Based on the analysis of the cooccurrence of movement responses and responses commenting on the shading present in the inkblots, it is possible to conclude that there is a need for a new psychological interpretation of these responses.

Download Full-text

The Dynamics of TAT Process

Rorschachiana Journal of the International Society for the Rorschach ◽

10.1027/1192-5604/a000056 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 103-133 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Benoît Verdon ◽

Catherine Chabert ◽

Catherine Azoulay ◽

Michèle Emmanuelli ◽

Françoise Neau ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Defense Mechanisms ◽

Analytical Approach ◽

Therapeutic Process ◽

Practice Research ◽

Rorschach Test ◽

Mental Functioning ◽

Projective Tests ◽

The Subject ◽

Latent Content ◽

Rigorous Method

After many years of clinical practice, research and the teaching of projective tests, Shentoub and her colleagues (Debray, Brelet, Chabert & al.) put forward an original and rigorous method of analysis and interpretation of the TAT protocols in terms of psychoanalysis and clinical psychopathology. They developed the TAT process theory in order to understand how the subject builds a narrative. Our article will emphasize the source of the analytical approach developed by V. Shentoub in the 1950s to current research; the necessity of marking the boundary between the manifest and latent content in the cards; the procedure for analyzing the narrative, supported by an analysis sheet for understanding the stories' structure and identifying the defense mechanisms; and how developing hypotheses about how the mental functions are organized, as well as their potential psychopathological characteristics; and the formulation of a diagnosis in psychodynamic terms. In conjunction with the analysis and interpretation of the Rorschach test, this approach allows us to develop an overview of the subject's mental functioning, taking into account both the psychopathological elements that may threaten the subject and the potential for a therapeutic process. We will illustrate this by comparing neurotic, borderline, and psychotic personalities.

Download Full-text