Developments in the Rorschach Assessment of Disordered Thinking and Communication

In its first 100 years, the Rorschach has been heralded as a valuable method for investigating disturbances in thought organization and reasoning. It has survived periods of intense scrutiny and criticism, as contemporary researchers continued to demonstrate the empirical validity of the Rorschach as a measure of disordered thinking ( Mihura et al., 2013 ). It is fitting to mark the centenary of Rorschach’s “experiment” by summarizing contemporary contributions of the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) and reviewing the empirical and conceptual bases for using the inkblots to assess disordered thinking and communication.

How Reliably Can Examiners Make Form Quality (FQ) Judgments in the Absence of the Form Quality (FQ) Tables?

Form Quality (FQ) scores are well-validated measures of the accuracy of perceptive processes, of reality testing, and of the severity of psychological disturbance. Research studies reveal that inter-rater reliability of FQ scoring is good when visualized objects are available in the FQ tables. However, many visualized objects are not found in the FQ tables so that scoring must rely on one’s individual judgment. Thus, a major question remains unsolved: How reliably can examiners make FQ judgments in the absence of the FQ tables? To address this question, we used the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) method. We asked 21 graduate students from our research labs to rate Form Accuracy (FA) and FQ for 86 objects from a subset of four Rorschach card (I, III, VI, and VIII). The results clearly reveal that FQ judgments made by individual examiners without using the FQ tables are not reliable. When scoring FQ, one should carefully scrutinize the empirically supported FQ tables and base the FQ score on these rather than personal judgments.

Personality Impairment in Children and Adolescents with ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents manifests itself in a heterogeneous manner as regards personality aspects. This study aimed to evaluate, by using the Ego Impairment Index, the personality functioning characteristics of children and adolescents between 9 and 15 years old (to be completed), diagnosed with the disorder (clinical group) and compare them with a non-clinical group. The groups included 42 participants each. The Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children - Present and Lifetime version was used for diagnosis, and the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) was utilized for personality traits. When compared to their peers, the participants in the clinical group showed ability to discern adaptive behaviors through proper judgment, difficulty in keeping thinking and reasoning processes stable, a negative view of themselves and others, in addition to difficulty in establishing cooperative relationships.

Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) Interrater Reliability in a Brazilian Adolescent Sample and Comparisons With Three Other Studies

We examine interrater reliability for scoring the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) in a sample of 89 adolescents ( MAge = 13.2, SD = 1.01) from Brazil using exact agreement intraclass correlations coefficient (ICCs) for the 60 protocol-level scores that are the focus of interpretation. The first author completed or reviewed all of the primary coding, and seven R-PAS proficient psychologists trained at different sites independently produced secondary coding. Overall, excellent agreement was found ( M ICC = 0.89; SD = 0.09). When averaged across this study and three other comparison studies, stronger reliability was present, in general, for commonly coded variables ( M = 0.87) as opposed to rare or infrequent variables ( M = 0.78). In addition, 78.3% of the variables showed excellent interrater reliability and an additional 20.0% had good reliability. The results also showed that the ICCs for most variables had low variability across studies, suggesting clear coding guidelines. However, variables with higher ICC variability across studies indicated domains where it would be desirable to expand guidelines with more detailed parameters. Overall, the findings indicate excellent interrater reliability for the great majority of codes and present solid grounds for future research on interrater reliability with R-PAS.

Az R-PAS (Rorschach Teljesítményértékelő Rendszer) bemutatása

Háttér: a megújított Rorschach-teszt (R-PAS) a hazai pszichológiai gyakorlat számára ismeretlen.Célkitűzés: A Rorschach Teljesítményértékelő Rendszer® (továbbiakban R-PAS) új amerikai konstruk-ció Hermann Rorschach tintafolt tesztjének legújabb gyakorlati alkalmazásához (Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard és Erdberg, 2011). Ennek bemutatása a tanulmány célja.Módszer: A teszt ismertetése. Az R-PAS empirikusan közelíti meg a tesztet, igyekszik javítani annak normatív alapjait, integrálni a teszt alkalmazásával kapcsolatos nemzetközi eredményeket, ezáltal növelve annak felhasználhatóságát, modern egységes módszertani keretet biztosítva. Az R-PAS törekvése, hogy csök-kentve a vizsgálat változékonyságát, növelje annak minél pontosabban mérhető felhasználhatóságát.Eredmények: A fejlesztők célja az volt, hogy klinikailag gazdag, bizonyítékokon alapuló, logikailag átlátható, felhasználóbarát, valamint nemzetközileg egységesen igénybe vehető viselkedésértékelési rendszert hozzanak létre a Rorschach-táblák alkalmazásával. A megközelítés a teszt teljesítményalapú felhasználására fókuszál. Ennek eddigi eredményeit ismerteti a tanulmány.Konklúzió: Az ismertetés rávilágít, milyen előnyei és lehetőségei vannak a Rorschach-teszt új jelölési és feldolgozási módszere alkalmazásának. Az R-PAS már több európai országban és nyelven teret kapott, jelen-leg is zajlanak a fordítások és a módszertanhoz kapcsolódó nemzetközi normatív adatgyűjtés. Ezt indítvá-nyozzák a szerzők a hazai gyakorlat számára is.Background: The renewed Rorschach test (R-PAS) is still unknown in Hungarian clinical psychological practice.Objective: The Rorschach Performance Assessment System® (hereafter R-PAS) is a new American tem-plate for the latest practical application of the Hermann Rorschach ink-blot test (Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard & Erdberg, 2011). The aim of this study is to introduce this new test format to a Hungarian audi-ence.Method: The R-PAS approaches the test empirically. It aims to improve its normative bases and to inte-grate international results connected to the application of the test in order to increase its usability by means ofa modern, consistent methodological framework. The ambition of the R-PAS is to reduce the variability of testing and to increase the test's usability by making the results as accurately measurable as possible.Results: The aim of the people behind the R-PAS was to create a clinically rich, evidence-based, logically transparent, user-friendly and internationally accessible behavioural assessment system for applying the Rorschach tables. This approach focuses on a performance-based use of the test, the results of which to date are presented in this study.Conclusion: This introductory paper highlights the benefits and opportunities of applying the new marking and processing method of the Rorschach test. The R-PAS has already gained ground in several European countries and languages, and translations into additional languages as well as the collection of international normative data on methodology are currently under way.

Validity of Space Responses

Divorcing couples who require the intervention of the court system to resolve their child custody disputes usually exhibit intense anger and experience strong resentment. The Rorschach Inkblot Method (RIM) is one of the most commonly used tests in child custody evaluations, in which one crucial issue is affectivity and its regulation, and, specifically, negative emotions such as anger and resentment. White Space (S) is one of the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS) variables usually taken into account to assess anger and resentment, but to date the construct validity of S responses for this purpose is far from established. Our study addresses this issue by exploring the association between S responses (coded on the basis of the following classifications: the CS, the Rorschach Performance Assessment System, and Rosso, Chiorri, and Denevi, 2015 ) and the motor, emotional, and cognitive components of aggression reported by clinicians in a sample of divorcing couples engaged in child custody litigation ( n = 85). Our findings support the hypothesis that Space fusion responses may be a marker of separation and emptiness anxiety, whereas no support is provided by this study for the hypothesis that Space reversal and Space integration responses are indicative of anger.