The Rorschach Defense Scales: II. Longitudinal perspectives

We investigated the ability of defenses assessed from the Rorschach test to predict future levels of depression, anxiety, and psychosocial role functioning in a sample of adults with personality and affective disorder. In general, defenses were less powerful predictors than a descriptively oriented assessment done at the beginning of the study. However, certain defenses did have predictive value. Devaluation and, to a lesser degree, projection were associated with poor outcome in areas of affective disturbance and social relations, whereas intellectualization, isolation, reaction formation, and pollyannish denial were associated with better outcome on these measures.