Rorschach Test and Systemic Theory

Abstract. Can we read a Rorschach test without betraying the epistemological systemic premises? The systemic theoretical framework generally does not accept the use of testing, but we find confirmation of its use in some American publications in the late 1950s. In this period, family therapy was born and the Rorschach provided joint administration of the test. The interpretation of the test was prevalently pragmatic: co-administration helped to bring out relationship patterns and styles of communication. This article presents a possible integration to the pragmatic interpretation of the joint Rorschach, through the adoption of a constructivist and semantic theoretical framework. The author believes that subjects are active constructors of their own responses; the investigation of this process offers useful elements to the understanding of neurotic or psychotic levels of functioning. Furthermore, the responses should be read as a story, and the projected meanings can define personality organization. The method is adopted in individual and joint Rorschach testing: From a constructivist perspective, linked to the construction of the image, the pragmatic level overlaps with the semantic nuances of the individual stories in the joint administration. Consequently, systemic theory finds the way of approaching the test coherently with its own premises.