Principles of Rorschach Interpretation (Volume in Lea's Personality and Clinical Psychology Series)

This second edition of Irving Weiner's classic comprehensive, clinician-friendly guide to utilizing the Rorschach for personality description has been revised to reflect both recent modifications in the Rorschach Comprehensive System and new evidence concerning the soundness and utility of Rorschach assessment. It integrates the basic ingredients of structural, thematic, behavioral, and sequence analysis strategies into systematic guidelines for describing personality functioning. It is divided into three parts. Part I concerns basic considerations in Rorschach testing and deals with conceptual and empirical foundations of the inkblot method and with critical issues in formulating and justifying Rorschach inferences. Part II is concerned with elements of interpretation that contribute to thorough utilization of data in a Rorschach protocol: the Comprehensive System search strategy; the complementary roles of projection and card pull in determining response characteristics; and the interpretive significance of structural variables, content themes, test behaviors, and the sequence in which various response characteristics occur. Each of the chapters presents and illustrates detailed guidelines for translating Rorschach findings into descriptions of structural and dynamic aspects of personality functioning. The discussion throughout emphasizes the implications of Rorschach data for personality assets and liabilities, with specific respect to adaptive and maladaptive features of the manner in which people attend to their experience, use ideation, modulate affect, manage stress, view themselves, and relate to others. Part III presents 10 case illustrations of how the interpretive principles delineated in Part II can be used to identify assets and liabilities in personality functioning and apply this information in clinical practice. These cases represent persons from diverse demographic backgrounds and demonstrate a broad range of personality styles and clinical issues. Discussion of these cases touches on numerous critical concerns in arriving at different diagnoses, formulating treatment plans, and elucidating structural and dynamic determinants of behavior. Principles of Rorschach Interpretation, Second Edition......Page 4 Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 12 PART I-BASIC CONSIDERATIONS IN RORSCHACH TESTING......Page 16 1-The Nature of the Rorschach......Page 18 2-Approaches to Rorschach Interpretation......Page 47 PART II-ELEMENTS OF RORSCHACH INTERPRETATION......Page 72 3-The Comprehensive System Search Strategy......Page 74 4-Projection and Card Pull in Rorschach Responses......Page 99 5-Interpreting Structural Variables......Page 125 6-Interpreting Content Themes......Page 198 7-Interpreting Test Behaviors......Page 228 8-Conducting a Sequence Analysis......Page 253 PART III-IDENTIFYING ADAPTIVE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: CASE ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 262 9-Introduction to Case Illustrations......Page 264 10-Attending to Experience......Page 269 11-Using Ideation......Page 295 12-Modulating Affect......Page 327 13-Managing Stress......Page 362 14-Viewing Oneself and Relating to Others......Page 395 References......Page 428 Author Index......Page 438 Subject Index......Page 442 For clinicians who use the Rorschach Inkblot Method in assessing personality functioning, Weiner (psychiatry and behavioral medicine, U. of South Florida) offers principles for the effective application of the findings in professional practice. The second edition (first in 1988) incorporates changes in the Comprehensive System on which the book is based, and the substantial additions to the literature over the past decade. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) The centennial of Hermann Rorschach's birth was observed in 1984, and more than 80 years have passed since he began in earnest to show inkblots to patients being treated in the Krombach Mental Hospital in Herisau, Switzerland.