title: Severe disturbance or trauma-induced adaptive reaction: a Rorschach child case study.
abstract: In interpreting children's Rorschachs, it is often difficult to discriminate between a severe disturbance and an adaptive reaction to a trauma. To explore this difficult differential diagnostic issue, a child was tested three times. It was suggested that complexity, references to the trauma, and evidence of psychological disturbance are associated with an attempt to master the trauma. Rorschach data were presented and were found to be consistent with these speculations. The author concluded that such "openness" to an environmental stress may allow an adaptive reaction and that understanding Rorschach data in context helps to reduce ambiguity and to recognize the test's limitations.
authors.affiliation: California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Viglione
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D011594:Psychometrics; D012392:Rorschach Test; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology