Object relations and defense mechanisms of a psychopathic serial sexual homicide perpetrator: a TAT analysis.

The case of a 24-year-old African American man who committed serial sexual homicide and who met criteria (Hare, 1991) for psychopathy is presented. His Thematic Apperception Test (Murray, 1943) responses were used to code key aspects of personality organization--object relations and defense mechanisms--via the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (Westen, Lohr, Silk, & Kerber, 1989) and the Defense Mechanisms Manual (Cramer, 1991), respectively. Severe object relations pathology and a reliance on the defense mechanism of immature projection and immature denial are noted. Findings are relatively consistent with previous psychodynamic Rorschach studies of psychopathic sexual homicide perpetrators (Gacono, Meloy, & Bridges, 2000; Meloy, Gacono, & Kenney, 1994).

Object relations as a predictor of adjustment in conjugal bereavement.

The impact of object relations on adjustment in conjugal bereavement was examined. At approximately 6 months postbereavement, 46 midlife bereaved participants engaged in a narrative interview in which they were asked to discuss their past relationship with their deceased spouse. The Westen et al. object relations scoring system was applied to these narratives. Participants also completed depression and grief-specific symptom measures at 6 months and again at 14 and 25 months postbereavement. Object relations correlated differently with grief-specific symptoms and depression: it was more strongly negatively associated with 6 month postloss grief-specific symptoms while more strongly negatively correlated with depression at 25 month postloss. In a growth curve analysis, more mature object relations was also predictive of a faster rate of decrease in depression over time. The results were discussed in terms of current theoretical perspectives on what is required in successful adaptation to conjugal bereavement.

Internal consistency of the object relations and social cognition scales for the Thematic Apperception Test.

We examined 8 data sets to determine whether it is possible to attain acceptable levels of internal consistency (coefficient alpha) reliability for the 4 Object Relations and Social Cognition scales (ORSC; Westen, Lohr, Silk, Kerber, & Goodrich, 1989) for the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) when cards are considered as items in a scale. Number of cards used in the data sets ranged from 4 to 10, and the Spearman-Brown prophecy formula was applied to estimate the number of cards that would be required to attain alpha levels of different magnitudes. The two more structural subscales (Complexity of Representations and Understanding of Social Causality) have somewhat higher consistencies than the two more affective ones (Affect Tone and Capacity for Emotional Investment and Moral Standards). The results suggest that the use of 10 to 12 cards provides internal consistencies of alpha > or = .70 across each of the 4 ORSC scales.

Differential validity of the Defense Mechanism Manual for the TAT between Asian Americans and Whites. Thematic Apperception Test.

Thematic Apperception Test (Murray, 1943) responses of 69 Asian American (hereafter, Asian) and 83 White students were coded for defenses according to the Defense Mechanism Manual (Cramer, 1991b) and studied for differential validity in predicting paper-and-pencil measures of relevant constructs. Three tests for differential validity were used: (a) differences between validity coefficients, (b) interactions between predictor and ethnicity in criterion prediction, and (c) differences between groups in mean prediction errors using a common regression equation. Modest differential validity was found. It was surprising that the DMM scales were slightly stronger predictors of their criteria among Asians than among Whites and when a common predictor was used, desirable criteria were overpredicted for Asians, whereas undesirable ones were overpredicted for Whites. The results were not affected by acculturation level or English vocabulary among the Asians.

Further validation for the Cramer Defense Mechanism Manual.

This article presents psychometric properties of the Cramer Defense Mechanism Manual (Cramer, 1991b) for the Thematic Apperception Test (Murray, 1943). The developmental hierarchy of defenses originally postulated by Cramer was supported in this cross-sectional sample. Gender differences and the validity of distinguishing between "mature" and "immature" levels of defense were also investigated. Findings for gender differences largely replicate those previously reported by Cramer (1987, 1991a). Results also support the view of a developmental hierarchy of defenses and the validity of distinguishing between mature and immature levels of two of the three types of defenses.

Cognitive and affective representations of people and MCMI-II personality psychopathology.

Hibbard, Hilsenroth, Hibbard, and Nash (1995) found that affective, but not cognitive, dimensions of object representations were related to the severity of psychopathology among outpatients. In this study, the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (Western, Barends, Leigh, Mendel, & Silbert, 1990) developed for interview data (Relationship Episodes; Luborsky, 1990) was used to assess the object representations of 33 men and 38 women entering psychotherapy. The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II was used to assess the personality traits of the 71 participants. The results support earlier findings that only affective dimensions of object representations are related to outpatient personality pathology.

Defense mechanisms development in children, adolescents, and late adolescents.

To replicate and extend Cramer's (1987) original cross-sectional study concerning the development of defense mechanisms, the Thematic Apperception Test responses of 148 students in Grades 2, 5, 8, 11, and college freshmen were collected and scored for denial, projection, and identification using Cramer's Defense Mechanisms Manual (1991). Our results supported the notion that the relative use of denial and projection decreases and identification increases as a function of grade level. The findings provide additional support for the psychoanalytic view (Freud, 1966) of an ontogenetic developmental line of defense.

Adult children of alcoholics: narcissism, shame, and the differential effects of paternal and maternal alcoholism.

Recent clinical and research literature has suggested that having one or both parents alcoholic leads to higher levels of character pathology (Baker and Williamson 1989; Benson and Heller 1987; Berkowitz and Perkins 1988; Brown 1988; Hibbard 1987, 1989; Parker and Harford 1988; Plescia-Pikus et al. 1988; Soyster 1984; Wood 1987) than is normal for nonclinical adults. Only Berkowitz and Perkins (1988) have looked at what difference it may make as to which parent is identified as alcoholic.

A Rorschach study of narcissism, defense, and aggression in borderline, narcissistic, and cluster C personality disorders.

We examined the differences between narcissism, mode of defense, and level of aggression on the Rorschach. We also investigated differences in borderline, narcissistic, and Cluster C personality disorders by examining responses to Rorschach content variables. The Lerner Defense Scale (P. Lerner & H. Lerner, 1980), the aggressive content section of the Holt (1977) method for assessing primary process manifestations, a modified version of Exner's (1986a) Egocentricity Index, Wagner's (1965) exhibitionistic M score, and grandiosity were scored on the Rorschach protocols of 17 borderline, 17 narcissistic, and 17 Cluster C personality disorders. Borderlines were found to employ primitive defensive structures to a greater degree and severity, show more intense and overall aggression as well as more responses on the three forms of aggression in the Holt method, and have higher levels of grandiosity. Narcissists evinced significantly higher levels of egocentricity than borderlines and higher levels of idealization than the Cluster C group. Convergent validity was found on the measures of defense and aggression, which showed a strong relationship between primitive aggression and primitive defense.