Convergent validity of Rorschach and TAT scales of object relations.

The Rorschach Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (MOA) and the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (SCORS) have been shown to be reliable and valid measures of interpersonal functioning. Utilizing a sample of 57 outpatients with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Axis II diagnosis, this study extends the findings of previous research demonstrating the reliability and convergent validity of each measure. Analyses focused on the convergent validity between the Rorschach MOA Scale and 8 SCORS variables (complexity, affect, emotional investment in relationships, emotional investment in values and morals, understanding of social causality, management of impulses/aggression, self-esteem, identity/coherence of self) ratings of Thematic Apperception Test narratives. The conceptual nature and clinical utility of these findings are discussed in relation to psychological assessment.     

Assessing adolescents who threaten homicide in schools

Psychoanalytic and psychiatric perspectives on children who threaten to kill others are reviewed in the context of the need for an interdisciplinary approach to the problem. Converging technologies derived from a psychoanalytically informed social systems model are compared to law enforcement approaches, psychoanalytic understanding of the individual dynamics of the child, and empirical research on conduct disordered adolescents. The interdisciplinary orientation of a broadly trained community psychoanalyst allows a unique contribution when trying to distinguish adolescents who make a threat from those who pose a threat. Case vignettes are used to illustrate the hypotheses.     

Bulimia and object relations: MMPI and Rorschach variables

Rorschach and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) responses from persons vomiting to manage body weight and fat phobia were compared to those from a matched control group to determine the levels of personality structure. These responses were also contrasted with those of representative groups from normal and personality disordered populations. Findings were that the bulimic group's test protocols differed significantly from those of the control group, displaying evidence of serious cognitive slippage and dramatic, emotional and erratic personality structures arrested at the differentiation subphase of ego development. The clinical importance of timely developmental diagnosis and interventions designed to promote object constancy was discussed in light of these findings.     

Rorschach object relations and fantasy themes incorrectly scored as determinants

Determinants are perceptual features of inkblots, but movement, reflections, pairs, and subdivisions of shading, scored as determinants, actually represent associative elaborations. Such misclassification of determinants obfuscates the response process and makes it difficult to evaluate the validity of inferences. To the extent that these scores are useful, they can be improved upon by fully developed content analysis. Movement, reflections, and pairs can best be understood as manifestations of object relations content themes, as scored in systems developed by Blatt, Krohn & Mayman, and Urist. Determinant scores for reflections and pairs should be eliminated. Shading should not be subdivided into texture, vista, and diffuse shading, since these are content themes without clear psychological significance or clear empirical support.     

Potential space and the Rorschach: an application of object relations theory

This article examines the concept of potential space, developed by Winnicott (1971), and its relevance for Rorschach assessment. I propose that the response process can be viewed as occurring in the potential space between reality and fantasy and that various forms of psychopathology can be conceptualized as forms of the collapse of potential space. I suggest that this model can be of utility in interpreting the Rorschach protocols of a variety of difficult-to-diagnose patients. Examples from the Rorschach of a patient diagnosed with a dissociative disorder are presented to illustrate these points.     

Human responses in assessing object relations subscales of the Psychoanalytic Rorschach Profile

The Rorschach test is often used to assess object relations. This research examined whether human responses are necessary for a valid assessment.     

Boyhood separation anxiety disorder: thought disorder and object relations psychopathology as manifested in Rorschach imagery

Rorschach scales were used to examine the quality of thought disturbance and object relations in boys meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition (DSM-III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980) criteria for separation anxiety disorder (SAD). Nineteen urban, middle and low socioeconomic status (SES), SAD boys were compared to a group of 14 male control subjects. The hypotheses of the study were that SAD boys as compared to controls would: (a) have significantly more thought disordered responses as measured by a Rorschach Thought Disorder Scale (Blatt & Ritzler, 1974), and (b) evidence significantly less adaptive object relations scale scores as measured by the Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (Urist, 1977). Results confirmed both hypotheses. The SAD group had more thought disordered responses and more disrupted object relations scores than the controls. Ideas and images of these boys were found to generally be more unstable, boundary compromised, fluid, idiosyncratic, tangential, and psychotic-like than the controls. It was concluded that these boys possess a significant potential to have thinking abnormalities that will interfere with their independent functioning. Concerning their object relations scores, the SAD subjects were found to have significantly fewer benign, adaptive object interactional percepts, and a greater number of dependent and/or clinging interactional object representations (imagery) than the controls. This study supports the viewpoint that SAD boys are deeply psychologically troubled.     

Correlates of rates of suicide and homicide committed by different methods

The social correlates of suicide rates by each method over time in the USA from 1950 to 1985 were very different, suggesting that suicides by different methods may not be sociologically identical behaviors. Homicide rates by each method, however, showed a more consistent pattern of social correlates.     

Structural conflict and object relations conflict.

A hierarchical model of the mind is required for a more integrated understanding of psychic conflict. At a higher developmental level, the hierarchical model includes the tripartite model, and at a lower level it includes an object-relations model. Psychic conflicts may be classified into object relations conflicts and structural conflicts. The object-relations class of psychic conflict covers the phase of psychic development prior to id-ego-superego differentiation. The earlier psychoanalytic writings tended to ascribe all kinds of symptoms, conflicts, and disorders to structural conflicts. Logical and empirical evidence against the universality of structural conflicts in various disorders and symptoms, even psychoneurotic symptoms, has been summarized and discussed.     

Introduction to object relations group psychotherapy.

The author shows how object relations group therapy focuses on primitive defense mechanisms that shape the group-entity image or "basic assumptions group." Such primitive defense mechanisms as splitting, projective identification, omnipotent denial, projection, and introjection are the mental resources to protect the endangered self and the threatened objects from the fantasized imminent destruction. Object relations group psychotherapy addresses those defenses and the underlying psychotic anxieties, offering members opportunities to search for other ways to respond to their primitive fears. The author introduces two extensive clinical vignettes to illustrate how object relations group methods are different from other group-centered psychoanalytic techniques. He concludes by commenting on future theoretical refinements and on the problems in the professional practice of this modality.     

Empirical and clinical assessments of children's object relations and object representations.

A series of investigations that assess children's object representations using the Rorschach Mutuality of Autonomy (MOA) Scale are reviewed. The scale is viewed as a summary measure of a child's repertoire of previous interpersonal interactions. It has been effective in delineating qualitative aspects of a number of child psychopathological syndromes, in documenting short-term object representational shifts in children undergoing surgery, and in foretelling key paradigms in child psychotherapy. This effectiveness provides empirical support for the hypothesized salience of object representations as an integral facet of personality and affirms Escalona's (1968) contention that capturing a child's phenomenological experience enhances our capacity to predict later outcome.     

MMPI profiles of adolescents charged with homicide

Study of adolescent violence has been impeded by failure to distinguish among the circumstances in which youth engage in violent behavior. The present study investigated MMPI profiles of 36 adolescent murderers and a control group of 18 adolescents charged with larceny. Homicide cases were subgrouped into those who committed homicide secondary to another crime (e.g., robbery or rape) and those who acted in the context of interpersonal conflict with the victim. While there were no significant differences between homicide and larceny groups, crime and conflict subgroups were significantly different on scales F, Hs, Hy, and Sc.     

On internal object relations

This paper gives an account of the author's attempts to come to terms with the concept of internal object relations, and to find an appropriate theoretical place for it within non-Kleinian mainstream theory. It is proposed that the internal object be regarded as a structure in the nonexperimental realm, being built up during development on the basis of the child's subjective perceptual and fantasy experiences. The internal objects in turn influence perception, thought, fantasy, current object relations, and transference. From the point of view of the clinician, the concepts of internal object and of internal object relation act as useful organizing constructs for both analyst and patient. Finally, the suggestion is made that internal objects can be regarded as the source of internal "presences" with which the person constantly unconsciously interacts.     

Brief Rorschach records with children and adolescents

In order to determine the frequency with which children and adolescents give brief Rorschach (R less than 14) records and to test the hypothesis that brief records represent a resistance to testing, the psychological evaluations of 439 admissions to an inpatient unit were reviewed. Of the records reviewed, 16.6% were found to contain less than 14 responses. When the complete test protocol of those subjects who provided brief records were compared with those of a matched group, it was found that the group with brief records failed to complete the other parts of the evaluation significantly more often than did those subjects who did not give brief records. There was no significant difference between the two groups on IQ scores or on self-report scores of depression, anxiety, and social desirability. Result are interpreted as supporting Exner's (1988) hypothesis that brief records represent a form of resistance to being tested.     

Rorschach oral dependency in psychopaths, sexual homicide perpetrators, and nonviolent pedophiles

Rorschach Oral Dependency scores (Masling, Rabie, & Blondheim, 1967) were compared among nonsexually offending psychopaths (NSOPs, n = 32), sexual homicide perpetrators (SHPs, n = 38), and non-violent pedophiles (NVPs, n = 39) as initially reported by Gacono, Meloy, and Bridges (2000). The aggressive special scores of Gacono and Meloy (1994; Gacono, unpublished doctoral dissertation, 1998) were also scored and compared with ROD scores. Consistent with theory and predictions, NVPs were found to have significantly higher levels of oral dependency scores than NSOPs or SHPs. Additionally, there was a high degree of association between oral dependency and aggression in the SHP and NSOP groups. These Rorschach differences support the validity of the ROD as an implicit measure of dependency and add to the understanding of the dynamics that fuel sexually deviant violence.     

Visual-motor problems of adolescents who attempt suicide.

Using the Canter Background Interference Procedure with the Bender-Gestalt Test, a group of 18 adolescent suicide attempters earned test scores indicating they had significantly more problems with visual-motor coordination than did a control group of 21 adolescents. There were also a greater number of school failures and behavior problems among these suicide attempters. The findings suggest that learning disabilities may be an unrecognized factor which increases the risk of suicide attempts by adolescents.