|
|
R
is for
|
|
|
Hermann Rorschach
Swiss Psychiatrist,
1884-1922
Rorschach’s
nickname at school was Klex, meaning
"inkblot". There has been much speculation on the extraordinary
coincidence of his nickname and the test for which he is now famous.
Klecksography was a game commonly played by Swiss children and consisted
of spotting an inkblot on paper and folding it so that the forms
of a butterfly or a bird would be obtained.
At school Rorschach excelled as a draughtsman and artist, but decided
to pursue a scientific career. He entered medical school in Zurich,
then the world centre of psychiatry.
On graduating, he took up a position in a psychiatric hospital,
becoming very popular with the patients. At one time he bought
a monkey and kept it to observe the
patients' reactions to it, and also to
entertain them. He also became interested
in the interpretation of art works by psychotics and neurotics and
their own abilities to paint.
From 1911, Rorschach
started working on using inkblots and word association tests, and
in 1918 developed these into a system, collecting descriptions from
patients and non-patients of what they could see in his inkblots.
He considered the inkblot test a kind of mirror, based upon the
human tendency to projects interpretations and emotions into ambiguous
stimuli. From these clues trained observers might be able to pinpoint
deeper personality traits and impulses in the person taking the
test.
Eventually, with the number of inkblots reduced to 10, a publisher
was finally found for his ‘Psychodiagnostik’ in 1921.
The first printing was a disaster, with not a single copy sold,
and the publisher becoming bankrupt shortly afterwards. Rorschach
himself died suddenly the following year, at the age of only 37.
However, the rights to the book were bought, and the 10 inkblots
that continue to be used in testing are printed from the original
plates, using specially maintained ancient equipment.
Mimei Thompson
|
|
