[A study of control and defense mechanisms in the Rorschach test using the method of R. Holt in schizophrenic...

The paper describes a study of the Rorschach test, performed using R. Holt's method, in 25 schizophrenic subjects. The control and defence mechanisms, the request for defence and the efficacy of the defences are examined. Control and defence mechanisms present in the protocols appear in the following order of frequency: projection, vagueness of percept, rationalisation, isolation or negation; whereas, other mechanisms were absent (remoteness, context, dilatory strategies, etc.). The request for defence--which is used to indicate the degree with which the primary emergent process requests to be controlled so that the replay may be socially acceptable--was likewise assessed, as was the efficacy of the defence; using R. Holt's method, a qualiquantitative evaluation was obtained for all these values which was useful for the successive control of individual cases.