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Psychological tests and the borderline diagnosis

Journal of Personality Assessment

|June 1, 1982

Summary

No evidence supports that Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) Rorschach tests are more disturbed than schizophrenia, or that BPD shows disturbance only on unstructured tests. Research refutes these common hypotheses.

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Area of Science:

Psychological assessment
Clinical psychology
Psychopathology

Background:

Recent claims suggest distinct Rorschach patterns for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
Hypotheses propose BPD Rorschach tests are more disturbed than schizophrenic ones.
Another hypothesis suggests BPD disturbance appears on unstructured but not structured tests.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate the empirical support for two common hypotheses regarding BPD assessment using Rorschach.
To critically analyze existing research related to BPD and Rorschach interpretation.

Main Methods:

Review and critique of group research findings.
Analysis of studies supporting the unstructured vs. structured test disturbance hypothesis for BPD.

Main Results:

Group research robustly refutes the hypothesis that BPD Rorschach tests are more disturbed than schizophrenic tests.
Evidence supporting the differential disturbance on unstructured vs. structured tests for BPD is weak, irrelevant, or refutable.

Conclusions:

Current evidence does not support key hypotheses about BPD assessment via Rorschach.
Future research requires detailed subject characteristics, base rate estimation, and multimethod validation.

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