The Stress Tolerance Test.

The Stress Tolerance Test combines principles and concepts from the Rorschach and TAT methods. Subjects write answers to standard questions about their impressions of slide-projected pictures of dramatic combat scenes designed to elicit stress responses among military personnel. Developed during World War II, this instrument has had little subsequent use. Its potential for yielding useful assessment information is illustrated in hopes of reawakening interest in it.

Rorschach records of the Nazi war criminals: an experimental study after thirty years.

The Rorschach records of 17 Nazi war criminals (administered in 1946 by Kelley and Gilbert) were subjected to an experimental procedure wherein eight Nazi records and eight controls (matched for levels of mental health potential) were assessed blind by ten Rorschach experts. Multiple choice options allowed for classification on the basis of group characteristics or degree of potential. Nazi records were not identified as such; selection related to the cross-section of adjustment or inadequacy as reflected in both Nazi and control groups.

Human figure drawings in a prospective study of six disorders: hypertension, coronary heart disease, malignant tumor, suicide, mental illness, and emotional disturbance.

To test the hypothesis that human figures drawn by young adults are potential predictors of future disease states, drawings of 204 former medical students were examined 13 to 23 years later. During the interval, the 102 subjects in the experimental group developed one of six specified disorders, while the 102 subjects in the control groups remained in good health. Drawings were classified in eight categories based primarily on the stance of the figure. Categories of drawings found to be distinctive for the various groups are: healthy control groups: the neutral or uncommitted attitude; hypertension/coronary group: the inviting or input-demanding attitude; malignant tumor group: the attitude of ambivalence or conflict; suicide/mental illness group: the self-related or withdrawal attitude; emotional disturbance group: incomplete figures, bizarre figures, action scenes. Thus the evidence suggests that the stance of the figure drawing reflects the subject's attitude toward the outside world. When the category profiles of groups are compared, the following differences are found at levels of statistical significance: the total experimental group is different from the total control group; the somatic subset, "Body Takes the Rap" is different from the psychological subset, "Psyche Takes the Rap"; and the hypertension/coronary group, malignant tumor group, and emotional disturbance group are different from their specific control groups. It is concluded that human figure drawings by this population have predictive potential for certain future disease states, and that there are psychological precursors of somatic disease.