The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, His Iconic Test, and The Power of Seeing. by Damion Searls

Esman, Aaron H.

doi:10.1002/psaq.12154

Cited by 5 publications

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“…After the Rorschach Test came to the United States through the agency of Samuel Beck and Bruno Klopfer (Searls, 2017), none of the major systematizers in American Rorschach psychology articulated Rorschach test theory in terms of phenomenology. The possible exception is Bruno Klopfer.…”

Section: Bridging the Historical-analytic Lacunamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4 4 Biographical sources for HR are found in Ellenberger, (1954, 1957), Akavia (2013), and a more conventional biography by Searls (2017). An intellectual biography for HR using primary sources is yet to be written.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…19 19 Searls (2017) identifies Vischer as a source for Rorschach's ideas stating, “There is no ironclad evidence that Rorschach read Vischer, but he almost certainly did, undoubtedly read works influenced by him, and in any case perceived the world in a similar way” (p. 83). Further, Rorschach's dissertation on Reflex Hallucinations “set out to define the physiological pathways that make empathy in Vischer's sense possible” (p. 85).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…This question requires further clarification, likely to be found in the untranslated correspondence. Attributing Rorschach's interest and haste to the Hens dissertation, while plausible, is not a sufficient explanation (Searls, 2017). The question is whether Rorschach, after examining Hens's methodology and his inkblots, advanced his formulation of the underlying processes in the test, differentiating his thinking from Hens, including the inkblots themselves.…”

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Excursions in Rorschachlandia: Surveying the scientific and philosophical landscape of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics

Acklin

2022

J History Behavioral Science

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This article examines the milieu of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics (1921Psychodiagnostics ( /2021 under development between 1911 and his death in 1922 and explores new evidence about the direction Rorschach's test might have taken after publication of Psychodiagnostics. This includes direct and indirect influences from turn of the century K E Y W O R D S Hermann Rorschach, Ludwig Binswanger, psychiatry and philosophy, Rorschach historiography, swiss school of psychiatry 1 | INTRODUCTION This paper is written on the centenary of the publication of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics (1921) and newly annotated 100th anniversary translation of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics (Rorschach, 1921). The context of the paper is the recent English-translation and publication of the Rorschach-Binswanger correspondence in 1921-1922 and Ludwig's Binswanger's Comments on Hermann Rorschach's "Psychodiagnostics" (Acklin et al., 2021). Binswanger's Comments were initially presented to the Swiss Psychiatric Society in 1922, and later published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis in 1923. 1 , 2 This previously untranslated material opens a window on the early development and direction of Rorschach's inkblot test before, at the time of, and following his sudden death in 1922.Hermann Rorschach (1884Rorschach ( -1922 was born in Zurich, the oldest of three siblings, and spent his formative years in Schaffhausen. He was the son of an art instructor and educated in Schaffhausen. His mother died when he was 13, and his father remarried his late wife's younger sister. He obtained his diploma, ranked 4th in his class, from the Kantonschule Schaffhausen, known for "its efficient and capable teaching staff and its high scholastic standing" (Ellenberger, 1957, p. 195). He attended the University of Zurich Medical School from 1904 to 1909, completing his studies and qualifying in 1910, including studies at Neuenberg, Berne, and Berlin (Akavia, 2013). While he was a medical student, he attended lectures by C. G. Jung (1875-1961) and E. Bleuler (1857-1939 in Zurich, and later authored his doctoral thesis on reflex hallucinations in 1912 under Bleuler's supervision. 3 In 1910, he married his wife, Olga, also a psychiatrist. Following his matriculation, he worked in cantonal asylums in Muensterlingen until 1913 where he started his inkblot studies, spent a year in Russia, came back to Waldau asylum in 1915, and was appointed to the 300-bed Herisau asylum. Following his medical studies at the University of Zurich, Rorschach started his experimentation with inkblots with adults and children at Muensterlingen in 1911 with a schoolteacher and close friend from Schaffhausen, Konrad Gehrig (Searls, 2017). He laid aside his inkblots experiments in 1913 to work on other projects. At the end of 1917, he resumed his inkblot studies; the result of this work was published in 1921 as Psychodiagnostics.He was described as a devoted father to his two children and a skillful toy maker, draftsman, and illustrator.Rorschach was a prolific ...

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Section: Bridging the Historical-analytic Lacunamentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Excursions in Rorschachlandia: Surveying the scientific and philosophical landscape of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics

Acklin

2022

J History Behavioral Science

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“…Over the past century, access to family members, friends, colleagues, and his archive has led to additional information about Hermann Rorschach the man. His primary biographer, Henri Ellenberger (1957Ellenberger ( /2014Ellenberger ( , 1970, and a more recent account by Damien Searls (2017) help to provide access to Rorschach's relationships, history, and possible inspirations. Still, we are left wanting.…”

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Inkblots and the Life-World – Toward a Rorschach Phenomenology

McElfresh

2023

Rorschachiana

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This article summarizes the historical influences on Hermann Rorschach’s Psychodiagnostics in light of new findings and the retranslation of his monograph by Keddy and colleagues ( Rorschach, 2021 ). This exposition situates his work in the historical context of Swiss culture and psychiatry at the time of his training and research, identifies theoretical influences on his thought given findings from recent scholarship, and describes collegial relationships that impacted his experiment. The potential influence of philosophical phenomenology on Hermann Rorschach’s work, had he not passed away prematurely, is postulated given his relationship with Ludwig Binswanger, the nature of his personality, and theoretical interests, particularly kinesthetic perception. A summary of phenomenological theory regarding Rorschach’s project is provided as well as potential future theoretical and methodological frameworks in light of this connection. Specific suggestions for Rorschach psychology, given solutions from historical and phenomenological explorations, are provided.

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On the Background and Foundations of Psychodiagnostics

Silberstein

2023

Rorschachiana

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During the century that has passed since its publication, there have been innumerable investigations on the Psychodiagnostics with relevant contributions in the codification, interpretation, and validity of its results. However, Rorschach’s work and his intentions remain in many respects little known. Knowledge of his research on the determinants and the foundations of their meanings is limited, although they are still valid and widely used. In this article the author studies the elaboration on the concepts of interpretation, the introduction of movement, Rorschach’s ideas about color, form, and Erlebnistypus as presented in Rorschach’s dissertation on reflex hallucinations and Psychodiagnostics.

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The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, His Iconic Test, and The Power of Seeing. by Damion Searls

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Excursions in Rorschachlandia: Surveying the scientific and philosophical landscape of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics

Excursions in Rorschachlandia: Surveying the scientific and philosophical landscape of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics

Inkblots and the Life-World – Toward a Rorschach Phenomenology

On the Background and Foundations of Psychodiagnostics

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