On the Prediction of Suicide from the Rorschach

Abstract

The last extensive and comprehensive reviews of research on whether the Rorschach can be used to predict suicide were done in the 1970s. All of these reviews concluded that there was not much support for this assumption; however, all of the reviewers pointed to methodological issues which might have obscured or diluted that relationship. Little research has been done in this area of study since the 1970s and that which has been done did not address the methodological issues to which reviewers point. The present paper, then, is less a review of new research since the last reviews and more an opportunity to remind investigators of the research which still needs to be done before a final assessment can be made as to whether the Rorschach can be useful in the detection of suicidal potential.