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The current study explores a psychoanalytic conceptualization of dissociation based on Winnicott's (1971) construct of potential space and Ogden's (1986) model of using this construct to capture different types of psychopathological states. Following Smith (1990), we apply the Rorschach Reality-Fantasy Scale (RFS; Tibon, Handelzalts & Weinberger, 2005) to Rorschach protocols of 100 patients with severe dissociative disorders (Brand, Armstrong, & Loewenstein, 2006). Overall, the results support the conceptualization of dissociation as a form of collapse of potential space. When compared with a normative sample, the dissociative patients demonstrated significantly elevated RFS-S scores, indicative of fluctuations between reality-bound and fantasy-derived Rorschach responses, in which reality and fantasy are experienced as parallel, disconnected conditions. Furthermore, the RFS-S significantly added to detecting dissociative disorders, above and beyond isolated Rorschach markers known to be indicative of dissociation. In line with previous research, the results demonstrate the advantages of using the Rorschach in general, and the RFS in particular, for
This article was published Online First August 29, 2011.
We thank Bethany Brand, Judith Armstrong, and Richard Loewenstein for permitting us to use their data collected at the Sheppard Pratt Health System. We also thank Roni Tibon and Roni Suchowski for programming the Rorschach Reality-Fantasy Scale (RFS) that served for processing the data in this study. This research is based in part on the doctoral dissertation of Ruth Zeligman, who gratefully acknowledges the support and encouragement of Joseph Newirth and Karen Lombardi. Portions of the data from this study were presented at the Society for Personality Assessment meeting in New Orleans, LA, March 2008.
empirically exploring psychoanalytic conceptualizations of psychopathological states.