Normal development and psychopathological impairment of the concept of the object on the Rorschach.

Abstract

Human responses to the Rorschach were analyzed according to developmental principles of differentiation, articulation, and integration in a longitudinal study of normal development (ages 11-12, 13-14, 17-18, and 30) and in a sample of adolescent and young adult inpatients. In normal development, there was a significant increase in well-differentiated, highly articulated, and integrated human figures seen in constructive and reciprocal interactions. In comparison with normals, patients gave human figures that were significantly more inaccurately perceived, distorted, and partial and that were seen as inert or engaged in unmotivated, incongruent, nonspecific, and malevolent activity. Unexpectedly, however, patients, as compared with normals, gave significantly more human responses at developmentally lower levels on accurately perceived responses and significantly more human responses at developmentally advanced levels on inaccurately perceived responses. It was only in the most seriously disturbed patients that both accurately and inaccurately perceived human responses were at lower developmental levels. These findings are discussed in terms of the nature and the function of experiences of reality and the importance of assessing the content and formal properties of object representation in studying normal development and psychopathology.

Influence du facteur gémellaire sur l’acquisition d’une identité distincte

“…West et son équipe de chercheurs-cliniciens (1987, 1992, 1993a, 1993b, 1994) Blatt et al (1976b) sur cette échelle proviennent de trois études. Une analyse de covariance à mesures répétées confirme l'hypothèse d'une évolution du concept de l'objet avec l'âge, sur les plans de la différenciation (p < 0,001), de l'articulation (p < 0,001) et de l'intégration (p < 0,05 ; p < 0,001).…”

Invited Commentary: Applying Psychodynamic Developmental Assessment to Explore Mental Functioning in Adolescents

“…The mature inner object world would be revealed in the Rorschach protocol by predominance of whole and real human percepts, accurately perceived and fully differentiated from each other, integrating both positive and negative aspects, well articulated, actively motivated, and involved in mutual activities. This type of response points to the capacity of perceiving the object as constant, multidimemsional, and differentiated but nonetheless related to the self (Blatt et al 1976;Erdberg 2007;Exner and Weiner 1995;Leichtman 1996;Tibon and Rothschild 2007).…”

“…Apart from these CS variables, different scales and indices that assess the quality of object representations with the Rorschach, including the Concept of Object Relations (COR; Blatt et al 1976) and the Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (MOA; Urist 1977) have been validated by extensive research on adolescents (Exner and Weiner 1995;Weiner 2008). Applying these Rorschach variables in empirical research with adolescents can broaden our understanding of personality dispositions (e.g., capacity to form cooperative interpersonal relationships) that underline behavioral problems (e.g., aggressiveness), beyond what can be concluded from using self-report measures only.…”

“…Assessing object relations should, however, take into account that relational capacity develops progressively and that, in this developmental process, fragmented representations gradually turn into complex, differentiated, integrated, and consistent representations of self and objects (Blatt et al 1976;Leichtman 1996). This process takes place within the context of developmental tasks that reactivate the separation-individuation conflict, searching for the balance between autonomy and relatedness, renegotiating the threat of regressing to dependence and reintegrating new cognitive, social, biological and familial factors.…”

Effects of the psychodynamic group psychotherapy process on object relations for patients with borderline personality disorder

“…[22][23][24]26] 1976'da Yale üniversitesinde Blatt ve ark. [27] tarafından Rorschach projektif testi üzerinden "nesne kavramı"nın içe-riği ve organizasyonunu değerlendirmek üzere kapsamlı bir ölçek geliştirilmiştir. Nesne Kavramı Ölçeği (Concept of the Object Scale), Nesne İlişkileri Kuramı, Gelişim Kuramı ve Kognitif Psikoloji'den yararlanarak Rorschach üzerinde-ki insan figürlerinin tasarımlarını; ayrışma (differentiation), sözel ifade etme (articulation) ve bütünleşme (integration) derecesine göre değerlendirmekte ve yapısal ögeler üzerinde durmaktadır.…”