The Rorschach Ego Impairment Index in heterogeneous psychiatric patients

There is a need for test measures of ego functioning that identify treatment needs and predict treatment response. Perry and Viglione's Rorschach Ego Impairment Index (EII; Perry & Viglione, 1991) is a composite measure assessing reality testing, thought process, defensive regulation, and object relations. It has been shown to correlate with Minnesota Multiphastic Personality Inventory (MMPI; Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) scales and subscales and other measures of psychosis in a schizophrenic sample and to predict antidepressant treatment of outcome in a depressed sample. This investigation examined the EII as a measure of ego impairment in a sample of 85 heterogeneous psychiatric inpatients and outpatients. In this sample, the EII did discriminate between inpatients and outpatients; it did not discriminate between psychotic and nonpsychotic patients, though there was a trend in this direction and one of the EII's object relations variables (Good H) did so. The EII did not generally show significant relations with MMPI indices of ego impairment (Ex or Scale 8), though there were some significant patterns of relation with with Scale 8 subscales. The study provides some, though not unequivocal, support for the EII as measure of ego impairment and for its utility compared to other measures and adds credence to earlier suggestions of the importance of object relations measures to ego functioning assessment.