Psychology Essay: The Rorschach Test
How Is the Rorschach Test Administered and Evaluated?
The Rorschach test is a projective technique of ink spots, that has been proposed by the Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach in 1921. The stimulus material of the Rorschach test consists of 10 standard tables with black-and-white and color symmetric amorphous (semi-structured) pictures. Initially, this test was designed to diagnose schizophrenia, but later it had been used to assess personality traits, creativity, and emotional response. Up to now, the Rorschach test can be used mainly in clinical and psychological research of the personality; it could determine some criteria or symptoms of schizophrenia, but it cannot serve as a single tool in diagnosing.
Firstly, the Rorschach test can measure specific criteria, prerequisites, and outward indications of mental disease, but it cannot with exact probability reflect its presence.
It really is commonly known that projective methods help examine and explore the inner psychological structure, needs, hidden motives, feelings, conflicts, and complexes, the information about which can maybe not be obtained with the help of objective and subjective tests (Vermande). The Rorschach test meets all the criteria of the projective methodology of the stimulus material, free instruction with no restrictions on the amount of answers, and will give valuable information about certain aspects of the personality. Initially, the Rorschach test originated by its creator as a tool for diagnosing schizophrenia and its symptoms. Rorschach noted that the perception of certain pictures and spots in people who have schizophrenia is different from the perception of healthy people. Already after Rorschach’s death, the test was useful for other purposes, for diagnosing various diseases and areas of the personality, but psychologists and psychiatrists today utilize it in clinical practice mainly to detect schizophrenic symptoms. According to the triad of Bleuler, the primary outward indications of schizophrenia are dissociative disorders, autism, and emotional dullness (Gross and McIlveen). With all this, the Rorschach test allows opening the underlying fear in an individual with schizophrenia, in whom tension and autism overlap affectivity (Thiesen). In some patients, it can identify delusions. Also, the Rorschach test can reveal some symptoms of schizophrenia, such as stupor, weak suggestibility, self-centeredness, and contamination (Thiesen). In this context, it really is worth noting that the Rorschach test cannot accurately diagnose schizophrenia, but only demonstrate a number of the inclinations and prerequisites of the subject to the disease.
Secondly, the Rorschach test, being fully a projective technique, cannot be used as the only tool in psychodiagnostics and requires competence from a diagnostician. Diagnosis of mental infection in clinical practice is just a very complicated, multi-step process that requires competence from the psychiatrist. Interpretation of the Rorschach test requires appropriate knowledge and skills for the specialist who conducts the diagnostics. Given these factors, a psychiatrist can't testify to the presence or withdrawal of any mental infection, taking into account the outcome of just one technique. The main method, in this instance, is the conversation and interview, and projective techniques, such as the Rorschach test, can serve as an additional tool in the diagnosis of personality (Vermande). For that reason the use of the Rorschach test requires appropriate knowledge and skills from the diagnostician and can not be used in clinical practice while the only tool for detecting a mental illness.
Thirdly, modern psychology often raises questions concerning the validity and reliability of the Rorschach test and the limitedness of its results. To date, the Rorschach test is often questioned as a valid and reliable tool for diagnosing various areas of personality and mental disease (Wood, et al. ). It is popular that validity and reliability are what characterize the test as a measuring tool. Many reports have shown a minimal internal consistency of the test, low retest reliability, and low prognostic and current validity (Wood, et al. ). In this case, there's a question concerning the relevance of its used in clinical practice. As mentioned earlier in the day, the interpretation of the outcomes of the Rorschach test requires the competence of the diagnostician in this matter. If the diagnostician is incompetent or the interpretation is incorrect, the Rorschach test may show irrelevant results and, because of this, complicate the formulation of the correct diagnosis. Thus, in these days, many psychologists and psychiatrists raise the question of the validity and reliability of the Rorschach test, in addition to its limitations in interpretation.
In summary, the Rorschach test can serve as a methodological tool for identifying certain symptoms of schizophrenia. Nevertheless, the diagnostician can't take into account the link between only this test, as it is an additional method in the diagnosis of mental illness. The utilization of the Rorschach test requires specialized knowledge and skills of the diagnostician who uses it, which complicates the process. Currently, the use of the Rorschach test causes lots of controversy in psychology science because of its contradictory results and low retest reliability. For that reason the Rorschach test enables you to diagnose certain symptoms of schizophrenia in clinical practice but must be properly interpreted by the diagnostician.
Works Cited
Gross, Richard D, and Rob McIlveen. Psychopathology. London, Hodder & Stoughton Educational, 2000.
Thiesen, J. Warren. “A Pattern Analysis of Structural Traits of the Rorschach Test in Schizophrenia. ” Journal of Consulting Psychology, vol 16, number 5, 1952, pp. 365-370. American Psychological Association (APA), doi: 10. 1037/h0063653.
Vermande, Marjolijn Margaretha. Psychodiagnostics. Nijmegen, Nijmegen Institute For Cognition And Information, 1995.
Wood, James et al. What’s Wrong with the Rorschach? San Francisco, CA:, Jossey-Bass, 2003.
