A study of Weiner's deviant tempo Rorschach signs for the psychodiagnosis of schizophrenia

Abstract

PROBLEM Deviant tempo on the Rorschach test has been suggested as a valid and useful sign in the psychodiagnosis of schizophrenia. (*, a ) Deviant tempo (DT) waR defined by Weiner(') as any one of the following: More responses to (a) card V than to card IV, (b) card V than to card VI, (c) card IX than to card VIII, or (d) card I X than to card X. Briefly, the rationale for these signs is that these comparisons represented "a pathologic variation of association rate marked by alternations of blocking and thought pressure with one another or with normal response rates."(*' The occurrence of any of these four "events" represents significant deviations from normal expectancy. Only successive cards are compared and then only chromatic or achromatic cards.Weiner (*) originally reported that "this variable correctly classified two-thirds of the total population as schizophrenic or nonschizophrenic." Two samples of 82 and 83 patients were used and the main conclusion was that "the presence of any one of these indices was significantly associated with a diagnosis of schizophrenia." This study assessed the usefulness of the DT signs. An additional sign, color stress, has been studied also by Weiner(l. and combined with DT as a psychodiagnostic indicator of schizophrenia. SAMPLE AND PROCEDUREThe sample consisted of 997 patients at the Mayo Clinic who had been referred for psychologic assessment during a 12-year period between 1955 and 1966. All patients had been seen by the second investigator and had been given the Rorschach test in the assessment. There were both inpatients (IP) and outpatients (OP) in the sample.The number of responses for each card, for each patient, was recorded, and the incidence of each of the four DT signs was tabulated. The psychologist who gathered these records was unfamiliar with these DT signs until after the protocols were completed.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The presence of each of the DT signs alone and in combination with one or more of the other signs was tabulated for the entire sample, analyzed by sex and IP vs. OP status. There were 486 patients in whom one or more of the DT signs occurred, constituting 48.6% of the entire sample. There was no observable difference in age or number of responses between the DT group and the 511 patients without DT signs.Seventy-one patients (7%) in the total sample received the diagnosis of schizophrenia at the Mayo Clinic. There was an additional group whose diagnoses were strongly suggestive of schizophrenia. The diagnoses included, among others, pseudoneurotic schizophrenia, borderline schizophrenia, incipient schizophrenia, early schizophrenia, severe psychoneurosis probably at psychotic level, and latent paranoid schizophrenia. This additional group numbered 41, and when combined with the schizophrenic patients, it constituted 11% of the entire sample. Table 1 presents the number of patients with DT signs that appeared for each of the schizophrenic groups, as well as for two additional groups: Those with "schizoid person-*The authors extend much appreci...

Research on the Clinical Usefulness of the Rorschach: 1. The Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

“…While the over-all trend was in the predicted direction, 37 out of 81 nonschizophrenics showed all of the indicators, while 17 out of the 84 schizophrenics showed none of the signs. Subsequent tests of the validity of Weiner's measure (as, for example, by Klinger and Roth, 1964;Lambley, 1973;Orme, 1964;Schwartz & Ewert, 1969) failed to support the usefulness of Weiner's notions. Subsequent tests of the validity of Weiner's measure (as, for example, by Klinger and Roth, 1964;Lambley, 1973;Orme, 1964;Schwartz & Ewert, 1969) failed to support the usefulness of Weiner's notions.…”