Inkblot Personality Test

[This] book is much overdue as a significant contribution to the study of personality, psychodiagnosis and mental health. It certainly should stimulate new research throughout the world.

-- Wayne H. Holtzman, * Hogg Professor Emeritus of Psychology *
Readers of the Inkblot Personality Test: Understanding the Unconscious Mind will gain a meaningful classical perspective and understanding of the three clinical instruments of projective psychology that have benefitted many mental health and psychotherapy practitioners and clients. -- Robert B. Williams, PhD, * MA CPsychol CSci NCSP Department of Psychology, Crandall University, Moncton, NB, Canada *

The book is like a good workshop explaining the history, development and the progress in the field of projective techniques. It should be of great interest not only to the scholars, researchers and teachers of psychology but even more useful to clinical psychologists as well, due to its application in diagnosing and treating the patients. I believe the reader will find the book to be a valuable companion to the DSM-IV because of vignettes, easy-to-understand language and its clinical application to develop a road map for navigating through the differential diagnosis and formulating treatment plans. Handbook’s conciseness and excellent organization, and yet sufficiently broad coverage will have special appeal to the psychology students. This is the kind of textbook that will find a place on the clinicians’ desk rather than on a bookshelf.

-- Greesh C. Sharma, PhD, * Founder, Director and Clinical Psychologist, Lower Bucks Institute of Behavior Modification, Morrisville, PA, USA *

Flowing from a lifelong experience on research and clinical work on projective techniques, this book synthesizes theoretical and clinical guidelines about classical inkblot tests, Rorschach and Holtzman, and presents to a wider readership the Somatic Inkblot Series, created by one of the authors. It is also a mirror of an Occident–Orient collaboration. So much in the meeting between the occidental unconscious theory and Indian spirituality, supporting both a deeper insight in human psychology and a holistic perspective of psychic disorders. But it is also the result of a long work done together by all the authors in an international context.

Much more than a technical manual—it reports scoring systems and the Indian normative work on SIS—it is also a pleasant reading, open to imagination in historical reconstruction of a dialogue with Rorschach and to reflections about projection theory and its fundaments. A broad section is devoted to a detailed case discussion in many situations that modern clinician must often face. A section about longitudinal studies highlights a constant attention to patients undergoing psychotherapy and to the ability to document profound psychological changes in this course.

Therefore, the book is also a useful tool for students and clinicians learning and performing psychodiagnosis and psychotherapy.

-- Silvia Daini, * MD Aggregate Professor of Psychiatry, Catholic University, Rome *

This book gives me an excellent overview of three important projective psychological techniques and their theoretical backgrounds. As a European psychologist, I gladly learn about the SIS, originated in USA and widely used in India. I found it helpful to compare the SIS with the other two methods, all this in a single book. Correspondingly, I warmly recommend the book not only to researchers and professionals in India but also to psychologists internationally. So the book also contributes to the common concept system between clinicians. I have listened to Dr Professor Dubey on several congresses in the USA and India, and I am sure that his presence as one of the authors of this book is a guarantee of its high quality.

-- Ailo Uhinki, PhD, * Psychologist, Synteesi, Linnankatu, Turku, Finland *

For the authors, projective psychology is not just a science and a theoretical framework for psychological assessment, but is always a way of life, a true philosophy and a means to an end: to know and reach the most in-depth self. Responses to inkblot projective methods can in fact be seen ‘as a mirror of inner world’. These methods are solid and wellvalidated forms of assessment. A useful tool for clinicians and researchers, this book presents historical, theoretical, empirical and clinical information about the three inkblot projective methods, Rorschach Test, Holtzman Inkblot Technique and Somatic Inkblot Series. Let the deepest memories, fantasies and feelings emerge, of our patients and clients, as well as our own….

-- Rui C. Campos, PhD, * Professor of Psychological Assessment, University of Évora, Portugal *
The authors must be congratulated to produce a book of the Somatic Inkblot Series, all be it that this book is long overdue. The handbook of inkblot technique is one of those manuals every clinician should have on their bookshelf. It covers the area of projective testing in a very comprehensive, clear, crisp and readable way. One of the most valuable sections of the manual is the one that deals with the administration, scoring and interpretation of the Somatic Inkblot Series. This section is dealt with in great detail, and yet is so easy to understand that any clinician with just a rudimentary knowledge of the use of projective tests will be able to administer, score and interpret the series with great confidence. As an adjunct to therapy, this tool is second to none. Every therapist knows the frustration when they are confronted with a block of information, knowing that there is something somewhere in the client’s mind but being unable to tap it. This is where this manual comes into use, giving the therapist all the skills and methodology to deal with just that kind of situation. This book and Test can be recommended with the greatest of confidence.  -- George Savage, MSc, DTech. (Edu), * Clinical Psychologist in Private Practice, Ladysmith, South Africa *

This is one of the few books that examines and evaluates in detail three major associative projective techniques. For this reason, it can be considered as a valuable contribution to the field of psychological assessment and projective assessment. More particularly, it presents the reader with extensive information on the theoretical and historical background of the administration, scoring and evaluation principles of the Rorschach, Holtzman and Somatic Inkblot Series instruments. Evaluation is enriched by numerous examples of clinical cases. A particularly interesting feature of the book is the application of the Holtzman and the SIS in India. The uniqueness of the Indian culture affects the personality and the psychopathology of its people in such a way that makes the application of projective techniques particularly useful and offers the opportunity for interesting cross-cultural comparisons.

-- Carina Coulacoglou, PhD, * Director Fairy Tale Test, Psychologist, University of La Verne, Athens, Gree