Journal of Projective Psychology and Mental Health: Volume 9, Number 1, Jan 2002 Editorial |
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| 1. Editorial: Intellectual Struggles in Advancing SIS Knowledge, Wilfred A. Cassell, Anchorage, Alaska, (USA) page 1. The powerful uncovering aspect of the SIS technology places us at the forefront of the battle between good and evil. In this eternal war between the forces of enlightenment versus repression, those who champion the SIS as an interview technique for releasing suffering the “inner cry” - will always be at risk for secondary emotional trauma. The danger we face in our professional work is comparable to that experienced by health workers in treating patients with infectious disease. We similarly can be exposed to the potentially harmful aspects of empathetically experiencing the released painful SIS images.Of course we face other forms of stress. Frequently there are the professional battles with psychologists who allege that projective testing is not readily quantifiable. Consequently, they erroneously argue, before the sIs committees and funding sources, that inkblot techniques are not worthy of serious scientific investigation, financial support etc. In clinical settings where the psychopharmacological treatments often prevail, in-depth psychological assessment may be requested, only as an afterthought. Ironically, if the Rorschach employs Exner’s scoring system applied, as frequently is the case, it is a misnomer. The instrument is not operationally a projective test. In such cases the referring clinician does not gain insight from the richness of content analysis and symbolic interpretation. Apart from these troublesome issues, if the SIS is employed in clinical populations, the release of the “inner cry” may fall on deaf or even hostile ears. Worse still, are the problems faced when those with power over the suffering individual do not like what is exposed. Often this applies when parents, family members or others in charge of a suffering child are in denial about the true source of the emotional pain. Clinical examples of this will be presented in this edition of our journal. 2. The Advisability of Routinely Computing Percentages when Comparing Groups Across Projective Test Variables. Paul E. Panek, John J. Skowronski and Edwin E. Wagner. The Ohao State University Newark(USA) pages 2-4. It has been firmly established that, when significant differences exist among the total number of responses (R) in comparing groups on data obtained from projective techniques (PTs), it is advisable to also compute comparisons based on percentages obtained by dividing individual variable scores by their respective Rs. The purpose of this study was to determine whether different results would be observed on the projective Hand Test (HT) when comparing raw scores versus percentages, even when the Rs do not significantly differ. The HT was administered to 90 individuals seeking treatment at a pain clinic for three distinct physical maladies, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and migraine headaches. Results indicated that there were no significant differences among the three groups for Rs. A 2 (Gender) X 3 (Pain Groups) ANOVA, with age as a covariate, yielded interpretable groups and two gender effects derived from raw scores. The same results were obtained for percentage comparisons with the exception of one-nonsignificant finding for the repetition (REP) variable. REP is a reliable indicator of an organic brain syndrome and, therefore, it was important to authenticate the significance of this variable. The lack of corroborative support for the percentage comparison suggested caution in over interpreting the differences among the raw scores, especially in an exploratory investigation utilizing small samples. 3. Application of Somatic Inkblot Series-I: New Scoring System.Wilfred A. Cassell and Bankey L.Dubey, SIS Center, .Anchorage (USA) pages 5-22. The Somatic Inkblot series has attracted researchers and clinicians in various countries and the test has been adopted in English, Russian and Italian. Though the SIS-I is the first test in the series, it always emphasized content analysis for the interpretation of responses. It has now adopted a simple indices based scoring system, which helps researchers and clinicians to find out the changes in pre-and post therapeutic intervention. The new scoring system along with interpretation of SIS responses in a case of pain is presented in the paper. 4. Profile of Militants : An Attempt to Study the Mind of Militants. Lt Col D. Saldanha, M.D., Psychiatrist, Military Hospital, Meerut pages 23-32. Thirty one militants who were evaluated through Somatic Inkblot Tests (Cassell, 1980; 1984) and personalized interviews were divided into hard core (67.74%) moderate core (22.58%) and soft core (19.68%) types. They were drawn from 8 recognized militant groups operating in the valley. 74.19% were below 30 years. 61.29% showed hostile and aggressive responses on the SIS Test. Concordance rates between psychological (SIS) and intelligence reports were as high as 77.77%. Psychological stress was revealed only in 3.22 %. 67.74% were unlikely to benefit from rehabilitative measures. The usefulness of the Somatic Inkblot Test in understanding militant psychology is discussed. 5. Somatic Inkblot Series -I: A Meta Analysis. Ajay K. Srivastava,Ph.D. Institute of Mental Health and Hospital, Agra pages 33-37. The findings of the studies on SIS-I were meta analysed with the aim to provide normative data by combining mean and standard deviations of existing studies and to see if SIS-I indices can differentiate various groups. All the studies published in SIS Journal of Projective Psychology and Mental Health from 1994-2001 (January) were considered for the present study. The studies were pulled into four groups on specific inclusion criteria : Normals, Coronary Heart Disease, Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Schizophrenia. Critical ratios were computed on combined mean and standard deviation for intergroup comparison. The results revealed that the SIS-I indices significantly differentiate the comparison groups. 6. Diagnostic Value of SIS-II Among Subgroups of Psychotic and Neurotic Patients of Armed Forces. S. P. Rathee, P.K. Pardal and T. R. John. pages 38-48. The present study intends to assess the diagnostic value of Somatic Inkblot Series-II (SIS-II) among subgroups of psychotic and neurotic patients. The SIS-II was administered on each patient individually, following the standard procedures (Cassell and Dubey, 1997). The findings reveal that the total number of Responses; Atypical and Pathological responses were able to discriminate among subgroups of Psychotics. Likewise, R, MT, Atypical, Movement, Rejection of Images Human, Animal and Sex responses were able to discriminate among subgroups of Neurotics. The Test Comments of both groups of psychotics and neurotics proved to be more useful to understand their underlying psychopathology. The patients with less disturbances liked the test and felt comfortable while reacting upon it’s images, as compared to patients with more disturbances. The SIS Profile can provide a lot of help in diagnosis of various categories of psychosis and neurosis. 7. The Reflective Analysis of the Personality Problems of the Young Female Subjects : A Cross - Cultural Approach. Anatoly B. Khromov, Gene Starbuck, Nonie M. Birkedahl and Bankey L. Dubey, Kurgan State University, Russia. Pages 49-56. A questionnaire containing 99 questions dealing with different problems of youth was administered to 261 adult male and female students (134 Russians, 40 Americans and 87 Indians). Out of these, 61 were male Russians, 27 male Americans and 54 male Indians. The data thus obtained was compared between male and female subjects. The findings suggest that the Russian young women perceived more problems than American and Indian young women. Their problems in different areas such as uncertainty of future, working hours, housing, inequality of payment, limited role of women in political life and sexual violence have been discussed and compared in three cultures. 8. Family Intervention in the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders. Lt. Col. D. Saldanha, Hospital Meerut (India) pages 57-61. Military Hospital Kirkee is a major Spinal cord injury center in the Armed Forces. A number of spinal cord injury cases are transferred to this hospital for definitive treatment as well as for rehabilitative measures. During the course of convalescence, the individual manifests Post Traumatic Stress Disorders. No studies till date have reflected the problems of these cases. Hence a pilot study was undertaken to study a few such cases incorporating the families of those injured. Five out of six PTSD cases showed significant improvement with the intervention of family members. The significance of the role of families in the care of the mentally ill is discussed. 9. Rorschach’s Response Patterns of Drug Addicts. Manish K. Verma and Sarita Misra, pages 62-64. Projective techniques have been used with various populations for the assessment of behavior. The Rorschach InkBlot test is the most popular projective technique widely used as a tool to unearth the deep-rooted emotional conflicts, which has not yet manifested in overt behavior. The test is also used as a tool of personality assessment and diagnosis of different types of mental disorders. The present paper is an attempt to study personality aspects of drug addicts with the help of the Rorschach test. 10. Management of Stress. Col. Rajinder Singh, Chandigarh. pages 65-68. Stress has become a part of an executive's life. Factors leading to stress may vary from faulty learning, conflicting objectives, unclear philosophy of life, false ego and fast changing values of society. It hampers productivity and interpersonal relationships. Various techniques helpful in the management of stress have been discussed in the paper. |
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