Hermann Rorschach And His Interesting Life

Hermann Rorschach was a physician and psychiatrist who belonged to the first generation of Freudian psychoanalysts. He became known worldwide for a test bearing his last name: the Rorschach test, better known as the ink stain test.

He was born in Zurich, Switzerland in the year 1884, into a family that was not prosperous. His father was a modest painter, who made a living from giving private art lessons. Hermann Rorschach also showed interest in drawing from a young age. He really liked a technique called “flexography”.

Hermann Rorschach loved to play a game that consisted of filling a piece of paper with ink and then folding it. He would get unique and fun characters. Therefore , his own circle of friends called him klek , which means “spot”.

Hermann Rorschach, doctor and psychiatrist

Hermann Rorschach hesitated with the profession he wanted to practice. Although he was interested in biology and also in art, he ended up choosing medicine. He completed his education in 1909 and immediately chose to specialize in psychiatry.

During his psychiatric studies , he had prestigious psychoanalysts such as Eugen Bleuler and Carl Gustav Jung as teachers. Hermann Rorschach was enthusiastic about psychoanalytic ideas and did not abandon them. He found the subject of diagnosis particularly interesting. He was the one who coined the word “psychodiagnosis”.

He later became a patient assistant at several hospital centers. Some time later , he became director of psychiatric hospitals such as Münsterlingen, near Lake Constance, Münsingen, near Bern and Herisau, in the canton of Appenzell. This broad clinical experience helped him design his famous test.

During these years he read Leonardo da Vinci by Dmitry Merezhkovsky which was published in St. Petersburg in 1902. A section in which one of the characters, called Giovanni Boltraffio, follows some points of moisture really caught his attention. The text says: “Often on the walls, in the mixture of stones, in cracks, in musty drawings of stagnant water… I have found similarities with fantastic places, with mountains, with steep peaks, etc.”

Rorschach tests

Hermann Rorschach’s life was short. He died when he was only 38 years old. During the last three years of his life, he wrote the work that is still remembered to this day. It was called Psychodiagnosis and was published in 1921. In it, Rorschach defined the basis of his test, which he called “projective”. He pointed out that his intention was to explore people’s imaginary representations, and ask them to express the associations they created in relation to some drawings.

Rorschach had previously studied sleep, delirium and hallucinations in detail. Although he has always been a Freudian supporter, there is a clear Jung influence in his concepts and language. He looked for the inner images and traces of civilization in the responses of his patients.

He managed to summarize everything in 40 pictures that are apparently “spots”. The patient observes them and says what they appear to see in them. Today, psychiatrists and psychologists use only 15 of these images when using the Rorschach test.  At that time, the main goal was to determine whether patients were neurotic or psychotic.

Rorschachs arv

Clinical psychologists use the Rorschach test a lot as a diagnostic tool. Currently, it has more uses than just determining whether a patient is psychotic or neurotic. They range from identifying main personality traits to job evaluation tests.

Forensic specialists also use this test regularly. This is because specialists who defend its value believe in an idea: the interpretation of the sheets is beyond rational control. Therefore, the people on whom it is applied will hardly be able to manipulate the results. Thus, the Rorschach test reveals deep aspects of their personality. That is why it is still used today.

Hermann Rorschach made good contributions to psychology and psychoanalysis. He never managed to complete his work, since he died while still developing his technique. Yet it marked before and after in the exploration of the human mind.