Psychological resolution of homicide after 10 years.
The projective imagery, artwork, and behavior of an artistically trained psychiatric patient are presented 10 years after having committed a murder. The case is examined to see whether the Rorschach responses and the artist's choice of subject matter demonstrate the repetition compulsion familiarly associated with trauma. Additionally, does psychotherapy in which the crime is remembered serve as a stimulus to these other forms of repetition? Our case shows evidence of a continuing psychological struggle to express or deny his involvement in the murder, with phases of limited resolution.
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001154:Art; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003702:Delusions / Q000523:psychology; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D012392:Rorschach Test; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000523:psychology