For decades, The Rorschach Inkblot Method (RIM)--the most popular of the projective tests--has been routinely employed for personality assessment and treatment planning. But in recent years, it has not been free from controversy. Criticisms of its validity and empirical support are catalyzing new efforts to strengthen its foundations and document its broad utility. Among the most common--yet also most confusing and challenging--categories of clinical disorders is the personality disorders. However, minimal data have been available on the RIM evaluation of most of those found in DSM-IV. This welcomed book constitutes the first research-grounded, comprehensive guide to the use of the RIM in assessing personality disorders. The first section offers a theoretical overview of personality disorders and constructs a framework and compelling rationale for the legitimate role of the RIM in their assessment. The second, third, and fourth sections present Cluster A disorders--paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal; Cluster B disorders--antisocial and psychopathic, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic; and Cluster C disorders--avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive. The fifth section presents passive aggressive and depressive personality disorders, currently being proposed for DSM inclusion. Each chapter in these four sections includes an extensive description of the disorder, a review of empirical studies of the use of the RIM to assess it, an analysis of the Rorschach variables that may characterize patients diagnosed with it, and a depiction of a real case and discussion of the ways in which the RIM contributed to its formulation. The sixth and final section explores the relationship between psychoanalytic theory and the RIM. Rorschach Assessment of the Personality Disorders brings practical help for clinicians and clinicians-in-training, and suggests new paths for researchers seeking to advance our understanding of the complexities of these disorders.

From codevelopers of the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS), this essential casebook illustrates the utility of R-PAS for addressing a wide range of common referral questions with adults, children, and adolescents. Compelling case examples from respected experts cover clinical issues (such as assessing psychosis, personality disorders, and suicidality); forensic issues (such as insanity and violence risk assessments, child custody proceedings, and domestic violence); and use in neuropsychological, educational, and other settings. Each tightly edited chapter details R-PAS administration, coding, and interpretation. Designed to replace the widely used Comprehensive System developed by John Exner, R-PAS has a stronger empirical foundation, is accurately normed for international use, is easier to learn and use, and reduces ambiguities in administration and coding, among other improvements. Visit www.r-pas.org for more information or to purchase the R-PAS manual.

First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Exner's Comprehensive System has attracted so much attention in recent years that many clinicians and personality researchers are unaware that alternative Rorschach scoring systems exist. This is unfortunate, because some of these systems have tremendous clinical value. Scoring the Rorschach: Seven Validated Systems provides detailed reviews of the best-validated alternative approaches, and points to promising new paths towards the continued growth and refinement of Rorschach interpretation. The editors set the stage with an extended introduction to historical controversies and cutting-edge empirical methods for Rorschach validation. Each chapter presents a different Rorschach scoring system. A brief history is followed by detailed information on scoring and interpretation, a comprehensive summary of evidence bearing on construct validity, and discussion of clinical applications, empirical limitations, and future directions. A user-friendly scoring "manual" for each system offers readers practical guidance. The systems tap a broad array of content areas including ego defenses, thought disorder, mental representations of self and others, implicit motives, personality traits, and potential for psychotherapy. All psychologists seriously engaged in the work of personality assessment will find in this book welcome additions to their professional toolkits.

The most highly acclaimed and complete reference work on psychological assessment-fully updated and expanded Covering principles of assessment, evaluation, referral, treatment planning, and report writing, the latest edition of Gary Groth-Marnat's landmark Handbook of Psychological Assessment has been thoroughly revised and expanded. Written in a practical, skills-based manner, this classic resource offers coverage of the most widely used assessment instruments and has been updated to include new material and cover tests that are growing in popularity, such as brief assessment instruments. Handbook of Psychological Assessment also provides guidance on the most efficient methods for selecting and administering tests, how to interpret assessment data, and how to integrate test scores and develop treatment plans as well as instruction on ways in which to write effective, client-oriented, problem-solving psychological reports. The Fifth Edition provides thorough coverage of the most commonly used assessment instruments including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV), Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition (WMS-IV), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), California Psychology Inventory (CPI), Rorschach, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III), Thematic Apperception Test, Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), brief assessment instruments, clinical interviewing, and behavioral assessment. In addition, this Fifth Edition includes: Updates on the new WAIS-IV, WISC-IV, and WMS-IV An increased emphasis on diversity A focus on screening for neuropsychological impairment, including coverage of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) Coverage of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form New information on client feedback and consultation An updated chapter on psychological report writing, including new examples of psychological reports Organized according to the sequence mental health professionals follow when conducting an assessment, Handbook of Psychological Assessment, Fifth Edition is a practical, valuable reference for professionals looking to stay current as well as for students looking for the most thorough and trusted resource covering the field of psychological assessment.

This comprehensive, balanced guide to personality assessment, written by two of the foremost experts in the field, is sure to become the gold standard of texts on this topic. The Handbook of Personality Assessment covers everything from the basics, including a historic overview and detailed discussion of the assessment process and its psychometric foundations, to valuable sections on conducting the assessment interview and the nature, interpretation, and applications of the most popular self-report (objective) and performance-based (projective) measures. A concluding section of special topics such as computerized assessment, ethical and legal issues, and report writing are unique to this text.

Few books illuminate a domain of clinical inquiry as superbly as Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Rorschach. Paul Lerner has written a comprehensive text that offers a richly detailed, multidimensional vision of the Rorschach as the ideal medium for operationalizing, testing, and in some instances transforming contemporary clinical theory. For psychoanalytic therapists, the book provides a fascinating overview of how the coevolution of psychoanalytic theory and Rorschach technique has created new possibilities for conceptual integration. Lerner explores recent advances in our ability to operationalize such clinical concepts as splitting, dissociation, and false-self organization. He then reviews how these advances have been applied to research into psychic organization across different diagnostic categories, including anorexia and bulimia, aggressive and psychopathic personality, and schizotypal disorders. Finally, Lerner shows how the resulting data offer a unique vantage point from which to clarify such critical topics as developmental object relations and the structure of primitive experience. Rorschach scholars will appreciate Lerner's informed discussions of theorists as diverse as Rapaport and Schachtel, Exner and Mayman, Schafer and Leichtman. Rorschach students, for their part, will find the book an unusually lucid introduction to test administration, scoring, interpretation, and report writing. Even here, however, Lerner's breadth and originality are apparent, for his exposition of these testing fundamentals incorporates fresh discussions of the nature of the Rorschach test, the impact of the patient-examiner relationship, and the value of the test in treatment planning. Timely, definitive, and uniquely integrative, Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Rorschach will be valued by students, clinicians, and researchers well into the next century.

This book provides a definitive empirical study of antisocial character pathology and its assessment through the use of the Rorschach. Drawing upon a decade of research with nearly 400 individuals in various hospitals and prisons, the authors paint an extraordinary intrapsychic picture of the personality structure and psychodynamics of these troublesome patients. Serving as both an educational tool and a reference text, this book presents: * Rorschach data on several different antisocial groups -- conduct disordered children and adolescents, antisocial personality disordered adult males with and without schizophrenia, antisocial adult females, and male and female sexual homicide perpetrators; * nomothetic (group) and idiographic (case study) data; * data which have been analyzed and theoretically interpreted using both structural methods and psychoanalytic approaches which represent the cutting edge of Rorschach theory and practice; and * a developmental approach in analyzing Rorschach data gathered from antisocial children, adolescents, and adults -- providing striking similarities. This is the first Rorschach database of this type that has ever been published. As such, it serves as a valuable reference text for Rorschach users -- providing a definitive empirical base, theoretical integration, and a focus on individuals who create severe problems for society.

In Disordered Thinking and the Rorschach, James Kleiger provides a thoroughly up-to-date text that covers the entire range of clinical and diagnostic issues associated with the phenomenon of disordered thinking as revealed on the Rorschach. Kleiger guides the reader through the history of psychiatric and psychoanalytic conceptualizations of the nature and significance of different kinds of disordered thinking and their relevance to understanding personality structure and differential diagnosis. He then moves on to thorough reviews of the respective contributions of David Rapaport, Robert Holt, Philip Holzman, and John Exner in conceptualizing and scoring disordered thinking on the Rorschach. These synopses are followed by an equally fascinating examination of less well known research conceptualizations, which, taken together, help clarify the basic interpretive conundrums besetting the major systems. Finally, having brought the reader to a full understanding of systematic exploration to date, Kleiger enters into a detailed analysis of the phenomenological and psychodynamic aspects of disordered thinking per se. Even experienced clinicians will find themselves challenged to reconceptualize such familiar categories as confabulatory or combinative thinking in a manner that leads not only to new diagnostic precision, but also to a richer understanding of the varieties of thought disturbances with their equally variable therapeutic and prognostic implications. With Disordered Thinking and the Rorschach, Kleiger has succeeded in summarizing a wealth of experience pertaining to the rigorous empirical detection and classification of disordered thinking. Equally impressive, he has taken full advantage of the Rorschach as an assessment instrument able to capture the richness of personality and thus capable of providing a unique clinical window into those crucially important differences in the quality of thought that patients may evince.

Personality Assessment provides an overview of the most popular self-report and performance-based personality assessment instruments. Designed with graduate-level clinical and counseling psychology programs in mind, the book serves as an instructional text for courses in objective or projective personality assessment. It provides coverage of eight of the most popular assessment instruments used in the United States—from authors key in creating, or developing the research base for these test instruments. The uniquely informed perspective of these leading researchers, as well as chapters on clinical interviewing, test feedback, and integrating test results into a comprehensive report, will offer students and clinicians a level of depth and complexity not available in other texts.