About the Book
The Wartegg Drawing Completion Test (WDCT) is a semi-structured, graphic, performance-based personality test, created by Ehrig Wartegg (1939). With a foundation in Gestalt and Psychodynamic theory, the WDCT has been used widely throughout Europe, South America, and Japan, but only recently has become available in the United States. Initial scoring systems for the WDCT were considered cumbersome and lacked research-driven validation. In response to these factors, Alessandro Crisi, following years of clinical practice and research, developed the Crisi Wartegg System (CWS; 1998, 2007), a normed and standardized administration, scoring, and interpretation system for the WDCT. Over the past three decades, Dr. Crisi has refined and expanded the CWS through research, broadening the scope of the measure, and increasing the accessibility of the system to clinicians. This manual provides a comprehensive guide to the CWS, made available to English-speaking clinicians for the first time.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: History and Development of the Crisi Wartegg System
Jacob A. Palm & Alessandro Crisi
Chapter 2: Statistical Foundations of the Crisi Wartegg System
Jacob A. Palm & Alessandro Crisi
Chapter 3: Administration
Chapter 4: Evocative Character
Chapter 5: Scoring
Chapter 6: Computation
Chapter 7: Diagnostic Interpretation
Chapter 8: Conceptualization
Appendices
Index
About the Author :
Alessandro Crisi is an Italian psychologist who lives in Rome where he works as a private professional and teaches at the Sapienza University of Rome. He has written numerous articles and book chapters, and presented at many professional conferences.
Jacob A. Palm is a licensed clinical psychologist, and founder of the Southern California Center for Collaborative Assessment in Long Beach, California. Dr. Palm is the United States representative of the Istituto Italiano Wartegg.
Review :
Given the growing interest in the CWS from multiple areas (i.e., academic, collaborative/
Therapeutic Assessment community, SPA members), as well as increased participation in
workshops, trainings, seminars, and numerous requests for information and training, it
appears that this text may serve a useful purpose and provide sought-after information to the
assessment community. While initial sales may not be incredibly high, with continued
training and developing interest, the potential for significant demand appears great. Jacob Palm
University of Southern California Institute for Collaborative Assessment.
I would be excited to see this volume published and available in the U.S., as I and other psychologists I work with have been increasingly impressed and interested in the Crisi Wartegg System. In my opinion, Crisi standardized the administration, developed a useful scoring system, collected normative data, and did an impressive series of research studies to demonstrated the validity of his approach to the test. The result is an empirically-based, powerful clinical tool that is extremely useful in clinical contexts and in employment selection situations. There is increasing interest in the USA and in other English-speaking countries about the CWS, and this manual would fill a major gap as the major source in English about Crisi’s method . I see Crisi and the CWS as poised to become major players in the world of psychological assessment; should the method catch on, there is the potential that thousands of assessment psychologists and students will buy this manual over the next 10-5 years. Steve Finn, University of Texas Austin.
This text is the quintessential resource for psychological assessors who wish to incorporate the Crisi Wartegg system of scoring and interpreting the Wartegg Drawing Completion Test into their resource bank of personality assessment instruments. It comprehensively describes the stages of implementing the Crisi Wartegg System from scoring through interpretation in children, adolescents, and adults, and provides a thorough exposition of the rapidly expanding research base for this enormously useful tool. Assessors from neophyte to expert will derive immeasurable benefit from welcoming this book into their libraries.
Virginia M. Brabender, Ph.D., ABPP
Professor, Widener University
Crisi and Palm’s The Crisi Wartegg System is an eloquent, comprehensive step-by-step guide to the administration, scoring, and interpretation of a very important but underappreciated psychological test. Rich in theory, research, and historical context, this book should be required reading for practicing clinicians and researchers alike.
Robert F. Bornstein, PhD
Professor of Psychology, Adelphi University
This book is a monumental gift to psychological assessment! It integrates the large body of research on the Wartegg Drawing Completion Test into a system (the Crisi Wartegg System) that is then itself thoroughly considered and researched. The result is a reliable, valid, and enormously useful performance-based measure that rivals the Rorschach Inkblot Method. The book is a well-organized, detailed, and accessible guide to administration, scoring, and interpretation, including instructive examples. The CWS will play a large role in the future of assessment.
Hale Martin, Ph.D.
Clinical Professor, University of Denver
