Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist: biography. Psychological tests by pictures

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Rorschach Hermann is a Swiss psychiatrist who went down in history thanks to the author's method of personality research. Later, this test began to be used to study disorders of consciousness. It is called "Rorschach Spots" and is a set of ten ink blots bent in half. Each of them evokes certain associations in the patient. The specialist fixes them, analyzes and reveals the degree of mental disorder. In this article, we will talk about the Rorschach test and present its brief biography. So let's get started.

Parents

Rorschachs were in the community of the small town of Arbon in northern Switzerland. Herman's ancestors did not leave her for several centuries. His father Ulrich was the first to break the tradition. In 1882, he married Philippine Widenkeller and left his hometown two years later.

First they went to Zurich. But after birthHermann (in 1884), the Rorschach family moved to the city of Schaffhausen. Ulrich worked as a decorator, but the work did not bring him satisfaction. Therefore, Rorschach Sr. continued his studies at the school of applied arts. He was a gifted draftsman and often charmed children with stories depicted on paper. In 1886, Ulrich was taken as a painting teacher at the Schaffhausen School and School. He was a witty conversationalist, a caring husband and a kind person. His wife Filippina had the same qualities.

Childhood

At first, Hermann Rorschach attended a folk school, and after graduating he moved to a cantonal school. It was distinguished by a higher level of education and the best teaching staff. Herman showed equally high results in all subjects. He was a well-mannered and diligent young man.

When Rorschach was 12, his mother passed away. The boy, as well as Herman's brother and sister, were now taken care of by the housekeepers. Two years later, Ulrich married a distant relative of his deceased wife named Regina. She was an energetic and skillful woman, but Herman never managed to find a common language with her. Ulrich died in 1903 from an incurable disease. Herman was only 12 months away from graduating from the cantonal school.

Nickname

In the last years of study, the guys were allowed to join student unions. Hermann Rorschach was enrolled in the Skafusia society. It was there that the young man received the nickname Klyaksa. And it wasn't an accident. At that time atThe game of the same name was gaining popularity among young people. Of course, Rorschach also fell in love with her. Blots were placed as follows: ink was poured onto the paper, then the sheet was folded in half. As a result, bizarre images were obtained. It is likely that it was the childhood nickname and love for this game that prompted Herman to develop psychological tests based on pictures.

There is another version of the origin of his nickname. Rorschach's favorite author was Wilhelm Busch. In one of the stories of the poet, the artist Kleksel appeared. Many believed that it was in his honor that Herman received his nickname.

After graduation, Klyaksa could not decide on his future profession. Herman was torn between natural sciences and art. Rorschach told about his dilemma in a letter to Ernst Haeckel. He advised him to take up the natural sciences. Considering Haeckel's specialization, one could hardly get any other advice. As a result, Herman chose medicine. At the age of 19, he went to study in Zurich.

Medicine

At that time, most students after the end of each semester went to another institution, and at the very end of the course they returned to their home university. Rorschach followed the same path. He visited many educational institutions, including those located in Germany and Russia. The hero of this article was very diligent, which allowed him to learn to be a doctor in just 5 years. He graduated in 1909.

Private life

After graduation, the young doctor faced a choice: to get a job inuniversity clinic and receive a meager salary or go to the cantonal hospital, where the salary was much higher. In the same 1909, Hermann Rorschach announced his engagement to Olga Stempelin (he met the girl while studying in Russia). The young family needed money, so the hero of this article chose a cantonal psychiatric hospital. She was in Müsterlingen, on the shores of the picturesque Lake Baden. Rorschach moved there with Olga.

There were 400 patients in the clinic. And the medical staff consisted of only three people - the chief physician and two assistants. There were no social workers and secretaries, so the duties of the assistants included going around the departments, morning meetings and organizing various events for patients. After completing their duties, assistants had free time to go boating, swimming in the lake, or doing other things.

Rorschach spent four years in Müsterlingen. Perhaps this was the happiest period in his life. In 1910 he married Olga. The wedding took place in Geneva, in the Russian Orthodox Church. Later, the wife gave birth to a psychiatrist with two children.

Rorschach ink smudges

After leaving the cantonal hospital, the hero of this article worked for several years in psychiatric clinics in Germany and Switzerland. The case histories he wrote were fundamentally different from those filled out by his colleagues. Herman delved into the essence of mental disorders as deeply as possible, trying to overcome the limitations of existing practices.

But the psychiatrist was not limited to work. Research is what Rorschach devoted all his free time to. Blots were still interested in Herman. He began experimenting with them back in 1911, together with the teacher Konrad Goering. The latter allowed Rorschach to run tests on his students. The children were asked to smear a piece of paper with a blot, fold it in half, and then open it and describe what they saw below.

Publish work

It took Herman 10 years to research and analyze the results of experiments. Only in 1921 did he first publish his psychodiagnostic test, aimed at studying personality. The patient was offered 10 tables with blots, and the associative connections that he had after viewing them were recorded. Later, the doctor analyzed the answers according to a special system consisting of several categories. This work was called “Rorschach Spots” and forever inscribed the name of Herman in history. Of course, at that time there were other psychological tests based on pictures, but the method of the hero of this article gave the most reliable results.

Herman constantly worked on its improvement and finalized the tables. He soon announced that they were outdated and very soon he would introduce new options. Unfortunately, the psychiatrist did not have time to do this.

Death

37 years - this is the age at which another Rorschach Hermann departed into the world. From what he died, few know. And this event is shrouded in many legends. To understand the situation, we generalizea series of undeniable facts about the death of a psychiatrist.

April 1, 1922 Hermann Rorschach, whose biography was presented above, was admitted to the Herisau hospital in a threatening condition. All the previous week he had been in severe pain in his lower abdomen. The doctors recommended that he go to the hospital, but he ignored their advice and went only when it became completely unbearable. Dr. Looser, who examined him, found severe diffuse peritonitis. Rorschach's condition was inoperable. The doctor tried to help Herman by applying a gas drainage procedure (he inserted a rubber tube into the wound incision). The patient was then given intravenous infusions. Unfortunately, this did not help, and a day later Hermann Rorschach died. After the autopsy, the doctors could not determine the exact cause of death. It was either a perforation of the caecum or acute inflammation.

Rorschach was buried on April 5 in Zurich, at the Nordheim cemetery. The eulogy was delivered by a psychoanalyst, priest and old friend of Hermann Oscar Pfister. He talked about Rorschach's Christian behavior before his death and his stoic self-control. Professor Eigen Bleuler also delivered a speech. The psychiatrist stressed that Herman's death is an irreparable loss for science and no one can complete the work of this brilliant researcher.