The Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (MOAS; Urist, 1977 ; Urist & Shill, 1982 ) provides a summary measure of a patient’s repertoire of previous interpersonal interactions. It lends empirical support for the hypothesized salience of object representations, including the patient’s subjective relational experience being an integral facet of personality. It also enhances the therapist’s capacity to access the patient’s inner relational world during the consulting sessions by activating the capacity to think metaphorically. Rorschach narrative responses included in the MOAS are useful in detecting initial representations of a patient’s relational modalities, in sharing the same verbalization, and in helping to construct the initial model scene. This entails significant communication from the patient about his or her life. These scenes can be used by the therapist and the patient to “depict something previously unknown, starting from what is known.” The purpose of using MOAS responses is to give the patient some initial cognitive and emotional representations to configurations of relational experiences, very similar to model scenes ( Lachmann & Lichtenberg, 1992 ). A clinical example is used to illustrate the relationship between MOAS responses and model scenes used in the psychoanalytical framework.

The present article first theoretically defines the term “resilience” from the clinical psychoanalytic standpoint, in view of differentiating normal development from pathological development following trauma. It then formalize two essential processes underlying resilience: mentalization and the ability to identify a developmental tutor . We studied two Romanian 12-year-old twin girls who exhibit opposing adaptations following multiple, cumulative traumas (premature birth, early severe deficiencies, parental maltreatment, parental abdication and abandonment). The study is a projective clinical study that uses a pluridimensional methodology (interviews, storytelling test, Rorschach test, and house-drawing test). The clinical data obtained clearly demonstrate the importance of two major axes in accounting for resilience or maladjustment in the face of trauma.

This article highlights, on the one hand, the relevance of the Projective Kit for Early Childhood – a projective play test – in the dual prospect of research practice, and of clinical practice, on the other hand, considering a form of continuity between both these processes, as stressed by C. Chabert (1995 ). First, a brief introduction to this unique test in the field of psychopathology in young children serves to assess the relevance of this projective device in clinical practice and research. Then we successively present the test’s implications in actual clinical research, involving an evaluation of the psychoaffective dynamics of children with West syndrome (a form of epilepsy occurring in infants from the early stages of life, which impairs their development and frequently leads to psychopathological pictures in the autism spectrum) and as part of a clinical consultation process focused on the problem of depression.

The present study demonstrates the utility of information derived from the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS) in treatment planning for alcohol-dependent patients through two clinical cases. These case studies were selected because they clearly demonstrate the complex relationship between alcohol addiction, clinical syndromes, and personality. Both patients were women. The assessment took place on the third week of an inpatient alcohol rehabilitation program. The referral questions included (1) the magnitude of the emotional distress, (2) the motivation to change, and (3) the adequacy of their interpersonal style with our outpatient group treatment lasting 12 weeks. Each patient was assessed on the MINI, the SCID-II, the MMPI-2, and the Rorschach CS. Rorschach findings completed the information obtained by the clinical interview, the structured interviews, and the self-report inventory by generating hypotheses about clinical diagnoses, the role of alcohol, motivation for change, treatment targets, patients’ strengths and interpersonal style, as well as the potential obstacles for treatment and therapeutic relationship. Specific treatment plans and pertinent techniques for therapy were ascertained for each patient.

This paper is based on two clinical cases of adolescents suffering from cystic fibrosis who were evaluated before lung transplant by the Rorschach Comprehensive System and an interview. Clinical practice calling for the assessment with the Rorschach shows how this procedure may provide useful information for case conceptualization in a medical setting. Two clinical cases are provided and interpreted. Data show that the Rorschach allows us to explore the patients’ psychological issues as well as their defensive organizations. It provides a useful complement to the interview, especially access to depressive feelings hidden by defensive functioning. Articulation with treatment planning issues and follow-up data are also provided on the two cases.

In order to better understand treatment outcome through eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) trauma therapy, the author conducted comprehensive pre- and posttreatment assessments using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS), and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) on a survivor of human-caused trauma. The results of the Rorschach CS and the TAT showed significant improvements in terms of interpersonal relationships after the treatment. On the other hand, the posttreatment Rorschach scores indicated that the EMDR therapy promoted self-insight in much the same way as a traditional uncovering therapy. In this case study, the findings gained through the two performance-based methods shed light on what a successful EMDR trauma therapy can yield aside from symptom reduction.

Considered by some as a personality assessment technique, graphology is defended by its partisans but finds little solid scientific base. Our research (N = 45) compares the judgment of graphologists (k = 2) and 13 graphological variables with 13 variables of the Rorschach test according to the comprehensive system. The average reliability of graphologists’ judgments was .43. Their average validity was .05. Sixteen correlations were significant (p < .05) between graphological variables and Rorschach variables. Some are compatible with graphological theories. Others are random or difficult to understand. Great caution is essential in the isolated use of graphology as a personality assessment technique.

Dans les deux études présentées ici, nous avons fait des prédictions conceptuelles sur l'aptitude de patients à suivre une psychothérapie d'orientation dynamique à partir de variables Rorschach. Dans la première étude, nous avons sélectionné rationnellement des variables prédictives Rorschach (SI) (Exner, 1991, 1993) pour trois groupes de patients de divers diagnostics (n = 30, 43, 25). Les groupes ont été comparés à l'aide de l'ANOVA non paramétrique de Kruskall-Wallis puis nous avons procédé à des comparaisons par paire entre les groupes avec le test U de Mann-Whitney. Dans l'étude II, on a prédit des différences de scores entre deux désordres de personnalité (n = 35 et 25) et testés à l'aide du U de Mann-Whitney. Les résultats de ces deux études on confirmé les prédictions pour le EA, les blends, l'activité d'organisation (Zf), le mouvement humain de forme ordinaire (Mo), la dimension formelle (FD), le mouvement agressif (AG) et de coopération (COP) comme de bonne indication pour une psychothérapie d'orientation dynamique. De même, nous avons trouvé comme indicateurs négatifs le pourcentage des réponses purement formelles (F%), un score D > 0 et un indice d'incompétence sociale positif (CDI > 3). Les prédictions portant sur la couleur dominée par le forme (FC), l'estompage de diffusion non dominé par la forme (YF, Y), le mouvement d'objet (m), la somme pondérée des cotations spéciales critiques (WSum6), la distorsion formelle (X–%), l'espace blanc (S), les reflets (Fr, rF) et les réponses personnalisées (PER) n'ont pas été confirmées.