About the Book
Appreciation of the beauty and complexity of the human mind when perceiving an ambiguous stimulus led Dr. Hermann Rorschach to develop his scientific method eighty years ago. Full of gratitude for his brief life and work, the editors hope this volume will stand as an idiographic testament to his brilliance for the Rorschach students of the future. The contributors are clearly the most notable Rorschach clinicians in practice, and their work integrates the Comprehensive System and psychoanalytic methods.
This book is organized into four sections. Within each of the first three sections -- devoted to psychotic, borderline, and neurotic disorders respectively -- the editors and invited authors have contributed Rorschach case studies which vertically cut a character pathology, personality disorder, or clinical diagnosis through a particular level of personality organization. The last section charts the enormously varied course that Rorschach work can navigate -- from the understanding of a Nobel laureate, the pain of trauma and transexuality, and the Nazi perversion of youth, to the consensus Rorschach in couple's therapy and cutting edge work in neuropsychology.
Table of Contents:
Contents: I.B. Weiner, Foreword. J.R. Meloy, J.F. Murray, Introduction. Part I:Psychotic Personality Organization.M.W. Acklin, Psychodiagnosis of Personality Structure: Psychotic Personality Organization. C.A. Peterson, A Psychotic Gynemimetic: "I Just Had a Pregnant Thought..." J.R. Meloy, C.B. Gacono, A Psychotic (Sexual) Psychopath: "I Just Had a Violent Thought..." J.F. Murray, Toward a Synthetic Approach to the Rorschach: The Case of a Psychotic Child. M.J. Hilsenroth, A Fall From Grace. R.E. Rieger, A Psychotic and Bulimic Female Adolescent. Part II:Borderline Personality Organization.M.W. Acklin, Psychodiagnosis of Personality Structure: Borderline Personality Organization. J.F. Murray, The Rorschach Search for the Borderline Holy Grail: An Examination of Personality Structure, Personality Style, and Situation. J.R. Meloy, C.B. Gacono, A Borderline Psychopath: "I Was Basically Maladjusted..." C.A. Peterson, A Borderline Policeman: AKA, A Cop With No COP. J.R. Meloy, A Rorschach Case Study of Stalking: "All I Wanted Was to Love You..." B.L. Smith, White Bird: Flight From the Terror of Empty Space. C.B. Gacono, Borderline Personality Organization, Psychopathy, and Sexual Homicide: The Case of Brinkley. J.R. Meloy, Revisiting the Rorschach of Sirhan Sirhan. Part III:Neurotic Personality Organization.M.W. Acklin, Psychodiagnosis of Personality Structure: Neurotic Personality Organization. C.A. Peterson, A Neurotic Lawyer: AIDS or Oedipus? J.R. Meloy, C.B. Gacono, A Neurotic Criminal: "I've Learned My Lesson..." J.F. Murray, The Rorschach and Diagnosis of Neurotic Conditions in Children and Adolescents: A Case Study. J.H. Kleiger, Bulimia as a Neurotic Symptom: A Rorschach Case Study. R. Lovitt, C.A. Claassen, Personality Factors in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Psychological Assessment. D.J. Viglione, Jr., J. Kates, A Rorschach Child Single-Subject Study in Divorce: A Question of Psychological Resiliency. C.A. Peterson, C.L. Port, An Old Neurosis in an Old Neurotic: "I Shouldn't Have Played With It..." Part IV:Special Applications.C.B. Gacono, C.M. DeCato, V. Brabender, T.G. Goertzel, Vitamin C or Pure C: The Rorschach of Linus Pauling. M.W. Acklin, D.E. Wright, A.R. Bruhn, He-She-It: The Construction and Destruction of an Illusory Identity. B. Ritzler, Baldur von Schirach, Hitler Youth Leader: Perversion of Boyish Idealism. L. Handler, He Says, She Says, They Say: The Consensus Rorschach. S.C. Colligan, The Neuropsychology of the Rorschach: An M.D. With M.B.D. W. Perry, E.G. Potterat, Beyond Personality Assessment: The Use of the Rorschach as a Neuropsychological Instrument in Patients With Amnestic Disorders.
About the Author :
J. Reid Meloy, Marvin W. Acklin, Carl B. Gacono, James F. Murray
Review :
"This comprehensive volume contains a wealth of informationon the clinical application of the Rorschach.
—Readings
"The novice Rorschacher as well as the experienced clinician will find this text to be educational and informative."
—Contemporary Psychology
"Riding the winds of change, Contemporary Rorschach Interpretation represents the most ambitious and far-reaching effort yet to integrate two very different but complementary approaches to Rorschach interpretation -- the empirical approach of John Exner and the conceptual approach based in psychoanalytic theory. Fashioning themselves as 'idiographic cartographers,' the editors combine into one volume a series of top-notch chapters that use the case study and actual Rorschach data to convincingly demonstrate the power of an integrative interpretive approach. The result is a theory-rich, data-packed, cutting-edge volume that Rorschach practitioners and students will savor, refer to, and learn from."
"A few years ago, Charles Peterson, one of the editors of this marvelous book, noted that the current Rorschach literature rarely presented the work of 'idiographic cartographers' -- seasoned clincians whose sample was the single case, whose methodology was the thoughtful integration of data and theory, and whose result was the richly detailed understanding of a real person. To say that this casebook corrects that shortcoming goes beyond understatement. Beautifully organized to encompass the spectrum of personality organization, its chapters are models of disciplined clinical thinking. The chance to follow along as these distinguished clinicians go about their work is unique in the Rorschach literature."
