A Rorschach investigation of incarcerated female offenders with antisocial personality disorder.

Although male psychopathy has been linked to histrionic, narcissistic, and antisocial personality disorders (ASPD), less is known about female psychopathy. The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and the Rorschach were used to explore the personality functioning of 45 incarcerated female offenders with ASPD delineated by their psychopathy level. Psychopaths (PCL-R > or = 30) and nonpsychopaths (PCL-R < 24) were compared on Rorschach measures of self-perception, interpersonal relatedness, and reality testing.

Rorschach oral dependency in psychopaths, sexual homicide perpetrators, and nonviolent pedophiles.

Rorschach Oral Dependency scores (Masling, Rabie, & Blondheim, 1967) were compared among nonsexually offending psychopaths (NSOPs, n = 32), sexual homicide perpetrators (SHPs, n = 38), and non-violent pedophiles (NVPs, n = 39) as initially reported by Gacono, Meloy, and Bridges (2000). The aggressive special scores of Gacono and Meloy (1994; Gacono, unpublished doctoral dissertation, 1998) were also scored and compared with ROD scores. Consistent with theory and predictions, NVPs were found to have significantly higher levels of oral dependency scores than NSOPs or SHPs.

MMPI-2 based classification of forensic psychiatric outpatients: an exploratory cluster analytic study.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and now the MMPI-2, are the most widely researched personality assessment tools in correctional and related forensic settings (MMPI; Hathaway & McKinley, 1940; MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989). Using the original MMPI, Megargee (1977a) and colleagues (Megargee & Bohn, 1977; Megargee & Dorhout, 1977) developed an extensive and meaningful classification system for correctional inmates. However, few studies, with the exception of Toch and Adams (1994) cluster analytic study of emotionally disturbed violent offenders, have explored possibilities of a statistically derived categorical classification paradigm within the growing population of forensic psychiatric patients awaiting discharge into the community (Bannatyne, 1996).

Use of the Rorschach in forensic settings for treatment planning and monitoring.

Forensic psychiatric patients exhibit complex clinical issues that are neither readily understood by staff nor necessarily responsive to traditional psychotherapy or treatment milieu approaches. Individualized treatment planning identifies treatment needs and matches them to treatment services, thereby increasing the opportunity for a positive therapeutic outcome. The nature of the Rorschach, particularly that it bypasses volitional resources, enables observation and quantification of personality processes, making the Rorschach uniquely suited for treatment planning in forensic settings.