Many times when you would be scrolling your social media feed, you would come across an image!
On that it would be written, if you see a horse you are something and if you see a giraffe you are something else! Of course many times I would see a monkey and wonder what that means!
Jokes apart! Yes that was a joke! I do not see monkey all the time! Sometimes I see frogs too!
If these results are pushed into the feed of a psychologist or a psychiatrist he or she would gently touch his or her chin and say, Huh! Then of course the psychoanalysis would start!
After so many years of clinical practice I have often realised that most patients need someone to talk to and more importantly someone to listen! Most importantly they actually need a consultation of the mind kind.
Social media tries to show how people have perfect lives when in fact if it was true then they actually would not have time for social media since their social life would be so busy!
Now coming back to the images; many times you would see at least in movies and TV on how people with some mental issues are presented with cards and the psychologist would then go on to assess him or her!
That test is called the inkblot test! Now it is so famous but when it was created, the creator had so much difficulty in publishing them that he would have had to go in for a consult!
So in 1921, after studying 300 mental patients and 100 control subjects, in Hermann Rorschach wrote his book Psychodiagnostik, which was to form the basis of the inkblot test.
After experimenting with several hundred inkblots which he drew himself, he selected a set of ten for their diagnostic value.
Although he had served as Vice President of the Swiss Psychoanalytic Society, Rorschach had difficulty in publishing the book and it attracted little attention when it first appeared.
It has been suggested that Rorschach’s use of inkblots may have been influenced by German doctor Justinus Kerner who, in 1857, had published a popular book of poems, each of which was inspired by an accidental inkblot.
The usual Rorschach test employs a series of ten bilaterally symmetrical inkblot cards, of which some are black or gray, and others could contain applications of color.
The test taker is asked to provide their perceptions or perspectives on the presented ambiguous inkblot images.
This test was designed to look for patterns of thought disorder in schizophrenia and has evolved to include other areas, like personality, emotional disorders, and intelligence.
The Rorschach has been standardized using the Exner system and is effective in measuring depression, psychosis, and anxiety!
Apparently it has been found that historically the Interpretation of inkblots was central to a game called Gobolinks! Using interpretation of “ambiguous designs” to assess an individual’s personality is an idea that goes back to Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli!
Apparently Rorschach never intended the inkblots to be used as a general personality test, but developed them as a tool for the diagnosis of schizophrenia. It was not until 1939 that the test was used as a projective test of personality!
It’s basically, you are given an image and asked; what do you see!?
Your answer give some insights into your personality and thought process!
So be very careful on what you say though the idea is to actually say the first thing that pops in your mind!
Same thing with the sketch! It’s sketchy since am under the weather but it’s Mukesh Rishi!
Shubh ratri…
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