Assessment of Annihilation Anxiety from Projective Tests

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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Note on the Definition and Ethics of Projective Tests

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1994.79.1.51 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 79 (1) ◽

pp. 51-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A. Schweighofer ◽

E. M. Coles

Keyword(s):

Psychological Assessment ◽

Test Structure ◽

Psychometric Tests ◽

Ethical Practice ◽

Alternative Definition ◽

Projective Tests ◽

Projective Test ◽

Definition Of ◽

Assessment Procedures ◽

Current Standards

It is suggested that the definition of projective tests as assessment procedures which use ambiguous figures does not differentiate them from other procedures; and, to the extent that such a definition does differentiate, it describes a procedure that is inconsistent with current standards of ethical practice. An alternative definition, emphasizing the wide number of scorable responses elicited, is more ethical and serves to establish the relation of responses to projective test structure to psychometric tests through the more scientific bandwidth-fidelity issue of psychological assessment.

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Computer-Managed Screening for Communication Disorders

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.1502.66 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 66-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

James L. Fitch ◽

Linda Allen Davis ◽

W. Bryce Evans ◽

Daniel E. Sellers

Keyword(s):

Satisfactory Agreement ◽

Screening Test ◽

Communication Disorders ◽

Pencil And Paper ◽

Paper Format

Fifty children were administered a screening test for communication disorders under two conditions. Under one condition graduate clinicians administered the test in the traditional pencil and paper format. Under the second condition nonprofessionals administered a computer-managed version of the same test. It was found that the computer-managed screening test yielded satisfactory agreement for the language sections. The results of the articulation section of the screening test were ambiguous.

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The Dynamics of TAT Process

Rorschachiana Journal of the International Society for the Rorschach ◽

10.1027/1192-5604/a000056 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 103-133 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Benoît Verdon ◽

Catherine Chabert ◽

Catherine Azoulay ◽

Michèle Emmanuelli ◽

Françoise Neau ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Defense Mechanisms ◽

Analytical Approach ◽

Therapeutic Process ◽

Practice Research ◽

Rorschach Test ◽

Mental Functioning ◽

Projective Tests ◽

The Subject ◽

Latent Content ◽

Rigorous Method

After many years of clinical practice, research and the teaching of projective tests, Shentoub and her colleagues (Debray, Brelet, Chabert & al.) put forward an original and rigorous method of analysis and interpretation of the TAT protocols in terms of psychoanalysis and clinical psychopathology. They developed the TAT process theory in order to understand how the subject builds a narrative. Our article will emphasize the source of the analytical approach developed by V. Shentoub in the 1950s to current research; the necessity of marking the boundary between the manifest and latent content in the cards; the procedure for analyzing the narrative, supported by an analysis sheet for understanding the stories' structure and identifying the defense mechanisms; and how developing hypotheses about how the mental functions are organized, as well as their potential psychopathological characteristics; and the formulation of a diagnosis in psychodynamic terms. In conjunction with the analysis and interpretation of the Rorschach test, this approach allows us to develop an overview of the subject's mental functioning, taking into account both the psychopathological elements that may threaten the subject and the potential for a therapeutic process. We will illustrate this by comparing neurotic, borderline, and psychotic personalities.

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The Case of Thematic Tests Adapted to Older Adults

Rorschachiana Journal of the International Society for the Rorschach ◽

10.1027/1192-5604/a000015 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 46-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Benoît Verdon

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Older Persons ◽

Older Men ◽

Elderly Persons ◽

Mental Processes ◽

Men And Women ◽

Projective Tests ◽

New Material ◽

Older Men And Women ◽

Latent Content

Since the 1950s, the growing interest of clinicians in using projective tests to study normal or pathological aging processes has led to the creation of several thematic tests for older adults. This development reflects their authors’ belief that the TAT is not suitable to the concerns and anxieties of elderly persons. The new material thus refers explicitly to situations related to age; it aims to enable older persons to express needs they cannot verbalize during consultations. The psychodynamic approach to thematic testing is based on the differentiation between the pictures’ manifest and latent content, eliciting responses linked to mental processes and issues the respondent is unaware of. The cards do not necessarily have to show aging characters to elicit identification: The situations shown in the pictures are linked to loss, rivalry, helplessness, and renunciation, all issues elderly respondents can identify with and that lead them to express their mental fragilities and resources. The article first explains the principles underlying four of these thematic tests, then develops several examples of stories told for card 3BM of the TAT, thus showing the effectiveness of this tool for the understanding and differentiation of loss-related issues facing older men and women.

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Exneriana – II – The Scientific Legacy of John E. Exner, Jr. 1Part of this paper was presented at the XIXth International Congress of Rorschach and Projective Methods, July 22–26, 2008, Louvain, Belgium.

Rorschachiana Journal of the International Society for the Rorschach ◽

10.1027/1192-5604.29.2.81 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 81-107 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Anne Andronikof

Keyword(s):

Clinical Studies ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Scientific Work ◽

International Congress ◽

Response Process ◽

Scientific Legacy ◽

Projective Test ◽

Projective Methods ◽

Comprehensive Picture ◽

Complex Mechanisms

Based on an analysis of John Exner’s peer-reviewed published work from 1959 to 2007, plus a brief comment for an editorial in Rorschachiana, the author draws a comprehensive picture of the scientific work of this outstanding personality. The article is divided into three sections: (1) the experimental studies on the Rorschach, (2) the clinical studies using the Rorschach, and (3) Exner’s “testament,” which we draw from the last paper he saw published before his death (Exner, 2001/2002). The experimental studies were aimed at better understanding the nature of the test, in particular the respective roles of perception and projection in the response process. These fundamental studies led to a deeper understanding of the complex mechanisms involved in the Rorschach responses and introduced some hypotheses about the intentions of the author of the test. The latter were subsequently confirmed by the preparatory sketches and documents of Hermann Rorschach, which today can be seen at the H. Rorschach Archives and Museum in Bern (Switzerland). Exner’s research has evidenced the notion that the Rorschach is a perceptive-cognitive-projective test.

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