The Inkblots, by Damion Searls

REVIEW:  Inkblots is a very interesting and well-written book.  Don’t read it if you are pressed for time – it is extremely detailed and thorough as it follows the Rorschach inkblot test from inception to the present day.  I did find the staying-power of the test very interesting.    Besides being used throughout its history, it became a part of our popular culture.   While it might not be the best book for a book discussion group, if you have varied and wide-ranging interests, this book is a good choice.  I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for this review.

People
Family	Clinics/Psychiatrists/ Psychologists/Timeline
Hermann Rorschach 1884-1922 Olga – wife Children – Elisabeth and Ulrich Ulrich – father Philippine – mother Siblings – Anna and Paul Aunt Regina – stepmother Regina – half-sister	Burgholzli clinic and teaching hospital: Eugen Bleuler – psychiatrist, professor, clinic director 1898 Carl Jung – professor in Zurich, asst. doctor, 1900 Franz Riklin – asst. doctor, 1902 Sigmund Freud Munsterlingen Clinic 1909 – 1913 Elrich Brauchli – director Rorschach and Dr. Paul Sokolov – assistants Robert Vischer – defined empathy (page 84) and influenced abstract art Rorschach to Kryukovo – private clinic in Russia 1913 Rorschack and Nikolai Osipov – doctors Waldau Clinic – Switzerland – 1914 Walter Morgenthaler – researched art and mental illness Krombach Clinic in Switzerland – 1915 – psychiatric hospital and asylum Szymon Hens – medical student – used black blots to measure imagination David Mordecai Levy – brought test to America in 1923 Samuel Beck – 1927 – first article and dissertation on Rorschach test – objective view Bruno Klopfer – Rorschach Research Exchange journal - more holistic approach to test, subjective World War I –test  given as group multiple choice test in armed services  1945 – test used to examine imprisoned Nazi criminals for Nuremberg Trials Douglas Kelly and Gustave Gilbert Istvan Kulcsar – administered test to Eichmann – “psychopathic personality with an ‘inhuman’ worldview” (page 232) John E. Exner Jr. – 1969 – described five scoring systems for test – revived popularity Robyn Dawes – 1994 – “’use of Rorschach interpretations in establishing an individual’s legal status and child custody is the single most unethical practice of my colleagues’” (page 262). Gregory Meyer – 2011 – latest version of test, Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) Joni Mihura – 2013 – gave test scientific basis Stephen Finn – current – new focus on empathy

 For Discussion:

NOTE:  Page numbers refer to the 2017 paperback edition of the book.

1. At the end of the book the author wrote about his experience taking the Rorschach test.   If you could also take it, would you like to know the doctor’s interpretation?
2. In 1919, Rorschach wrote that, “Probably the only thing impossible to change by working on oneself is how one’s introversion and extraversion relate to each other, although the relationship does shift over the course of one’s life because of a kind of maturation process” (page 127).  Do you think we are capable of changing these basic characteristics?  Do you think we should try to change our basic personality?
3. Carl Jung in 1921 wrote that it is impossible to see things from someone else’s perspective, writing, “…Every man is so imprisoned in his type that he is simply incapable of fully understanding another standpoint” (page 157).   Compare this to Stephan Finn who identified that empathy does three different things.  (See page 303.)   How important do you think empathy is to your life and to our society?
4. Why do you think the inkblots have had such an influence in pop culture: for example, in Hollywood films such as “The Dark Mirror,” used in perfume ads, in Ray Bradbury novel, and a painting by Andy Warhol?
5. Why do you think the Rorschach test has been in use for so long?  What makes it different from other tests?

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.