Movement responses in the Rorschach test. Part 1 Testing healthy and schizophrenic individuals

Abstract

Introduction: The theoretical basis for the present article is Zygmunt Piotrowski’s concept of prototypal role. This role is understood as a self-concept and as a mechanism guiding and stabilizing relations with the environment. The concept of prototypal role can be regarded as similar to the concept of self. It is possible to assess the prototypal role by analyzing the movement responses obtained during an examination using the Rorschach test. Empirical data suggest that patients with schizophrenia have an insufficiently developed or peculiarly formed prototypal role and experience certain difficulties in expressing this role. Material and method: The number of 32 individuals with schizophrenia and 21 healthy individuals were examined using the Rorschach test. Apart from the analysis of movement and posture responses; responses interpreting the shading (chiaroscuro) visible in the inkblots were taken into consideration. Responses of the latter kind are considered to be a measure of anxiety. Results: There found no differences in the most significant variables, the number of human movement responses was not lower in the group of subjects with schizophrenia, and the number of human movement responses not adequately reflecting the form of the inkblots was not higher in schizophrenic individuals. Some of the movement qualities distinguished by Piotrowski were significantly correlated with anxiety, but these associations were not always consistent with the predictions. Discussion: Data analysis revealed no specificity in the development of prototypal role in schizophrenic individuals; difficulties in the expression of this role were not frequent and occurred mainly in schizophrenic women as compared to healthy ones. More differences occurred between schizophrenic women and schizophrenic men, what may attest to the influence of gender on the experience of adaptation to disease. Conclusions: The analysis of movement responses and shading responses provides the basis not so much for differentiating health and disease as for better insight into the very psychological significance of movement and shading responses.

White space interpretation in Hermann Rorschach’s inkblot test: An analysis of two male examinees’ responses

“…Rorschach test theorists interpret perceiving human figures in motion as a kind of potential that a person can use in building social relations. This potential is associated with the prototypal role, an important aspect of personality; this role is a way of "projecting" oneself into the future -projecting one's life according to one's own standards and childhood emotional experiences [3,12]. It can, therefore, be seen that, despite the correct response to Card III, this examinee is not free from certain difficulties in relations with other people.…”

“…both (?) more likely a human face 5. some kind of spaceship, a vehicle 6. some kind of island, rocks, a lagoon (the lagoon is here and the rocks are further away, in the background -?-they are smaller) III 7. people, doing something, washing something in a river (in the grey blot at the bottom I see the "lip-like" shapes as waves against a shining surface) 8. sort of animal face 9. a vase IV 10. this is a tree (the shape of a tree, and the shades simply make it look as if there is a kind of foliage) 11. some big fellow, a guy, a big one, a giant 12 . the face of some kind of monster (from the movie Hellboy) (?)…”

“…Spostrzeganie ludzi w ruchu teoretycy testu traktują jako pewien potencjał, który możemy wykorzystywać w kształtowaniu naszych relacji społecznych. Potencjał ten wiąże się z rolą prototypową, ważnym aspektem osobowości; rola ta jest sposobem "rzutowania" samego siebie w przyszłość, projektowania swego życia według własnych standardów i doświadczeń emocjonalnych z dzieciństwa [ 3,12 ]. Widzimy więc, że mimo poprawnej reakcji tego badanego na tablicę III, nie jest on wolny od pewnych trudności w relacji do innych ludzi.…”