A taxonomy of Rorschach autisms with implications for differential diagnosis among thinking-disordered patients

A tripartite taxonomy of perceptual-cognitive errors on the Rorschach, abbreviated TRAUT, was reviewed. TRAUT classifies "autisms" as stemming from either an arrant disregard for the blot shapes (HYPO), an inordinate attention to unusual blot areas (HYPER), or an endorsement of counterfactual relationships among blot areas (RELER) included among Exner's Unusual Verbalizations. The scoring of HYPOs and HYPERs and the frequency of their occurrence among thought-disordered groups were determined by examining Rorschachs of inpatient schizophrenics, outpatient schizophrenics, borderline personality disorders, and Cluster A personality disorders. Because HYPOs and HYPERs yielded better differential diagnoses than RELERs among these four groups, it was suggested that such percepts should be scored routinely as a screen for thought disorder.