Concepts of separation-individuation (Mahler, Pine, & Bergman, 1975) and intersubjectivity (Stern, 1985) were operationalized in order to develop a methodology for assessing changes in self-and object representations that occur over the course of long-term, psychoanalytically oriented inpatient treatment. Adolescent and young adult patients were asked at admission and every 6 months thereafter until the end of treatment to describe their mother, father, therapist, and themselves. In addition to this Object Representation Inventory (ORI), some patients were also administered a Rorschach both at admission and discharge. The Rorschach data were analyzed based on a separation-individuation scale originally developed by Coonerty (1986) which we revised to include more mature levels of separation-individuation. A parallel scale was also developed to evaluate responses obtained from the ORI. Results indicate that toward the end of :reatment, representations of self and other show a clearer sense of boundaries and separateness, as well as a greater degree of empathic relatedness. Four case studies are presented to illustrate these changes.

In an attempt to test hypotheses derived from Mahler's theory of borderline development, Rorschach protocols of borderline and schizophrenic patients were studied for the presence of themes related to the separation-individuation process. A specially constructed Separation-Individuation Theme Scale was used with a 96% reliability of agreement between two raters. The borderline group attained more separation-individuation themes than the schizophrenic group, whereas the schizophrenics showed more preseparation-individuation themes. The results were interpreted as a validation of Mahler's theory. In addition, the results tended to confirm a developmental model for the understanding of psychopathology.

This report details procedures to measure annihilation anxiety, a concept derived from Freud's 1926 formulation of traumatic anxiety. A 25-item pencil-and-paper inventory administered to patient and to nonpatient samples is described, along with a brief summary of earlier findings. The delineation of nine interrelated experiential components of annihilation anxiety provides the background for the construction of Rorschach and TAT measures of the concept. Findings comparing the pencil-and-paper inventory and the projective test measures are presented as well as examples of responses judged to reflect annihilation anxiety from Rorschach and TAT protocols.

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