Rorschach psychopathological index (Exner CS) for assessing personality disorders in adolescence.

Introduction: The notion that personality disorders (PD) are not discrete but rather continuous pathologies and that their diagnosis is not only structural but also dimensional has been increasingly gathering consensus. Starting from this consideration, a number of authors have already suggested the utility of developing a system of PD classification in adolescence (Westen et al., 2003). The aim of the present work is to verify whether, and to what extent, the Rorschach test could lead to an assessment index for implicit PD in adolescence. Methods: The instruments administered the Rorschoch test (Exner CS) and clinical inteiviews, both of which were used to reach a diagnosis of PD according to the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000). The participants were 60 psychopathological adolescents with Axis II diagnosis, mean age 15 years, who were paired off with a non-clinical control group of 203 adolescents matched for age and gender. Data analysis was conducted by determining the variables that differentiated between the two groups in a statistically significant way and by carrying out a factor analysis to identify any latent dimensions: validity analyses were carried out on the latter. Results: From the results a possible concise index has emerged able to satisfactorily discriminate between the two groups of participants. It gathers six Rorschach variables that affect a personality disposition characteristic of DP. Conclusions: The discussions and conclusions of the present work make reference to clinically applicable new hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]