Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods

Ⅰ. Presidential Greeting

The Future of Projective Methods

Thank you for visiting the official website of the Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods. As the 10th President of the Society, I would like to extend my greetings to you.

2024 is the 103rd year of the publication of the inkblots created by Hermann Rorschach. It has also been 85 years since the publication of Lawrence Frank's article, which led to the popularization of the term “projective method.” As these years indicate, the Rorschach and various other projective methods have a long history. Although they are used less frequently than in the past, they are still widely used in clinical settings in Japan and abroad. Will the projective methods continue to be used?　Or will it gradually decline? I would like to face this question by looking back at history once again. It is important to consider the future of projective methods.

Hermann Rorschach's original method was revolutionary in that it did not ask “what is it seen?” but rather “how is it seen?” in the inkblot. It is in this way of seeing that we can see the strategies that individuals tend to adopt in their daily lives, and in turn, we can see their personality. Although this new method has had great success in practice, it seems that Rorschach has always remained cautious and modest. It is well known, for example, that even after his seminal work “Psychodiagnostics” was published, he was not satisfied with it, but continued to make improvements to his methods as the need arose. For Rorschach, who had held a sincere desire to "read people" since his youth, even if the method he finally published after much hard work, it may have been nothing more than a developmental process. It can be said that he and his method were always moving forward.

Lawrence Frank's article “Projective Methods for the Study of Personality” (1939), published 17 years after Rorschach's death, offers a novel argument. According to Frank, people face various situations in their lives, and in order to give them the necessary configuration, they impose a certain set of "rubber stamp" as if it were a rule, no matter what situation they encounter. He described this behavior as “the personality process.” In other words, if we examine the way people unknowingly impose these "rubber stamps" in ambiguous situations (under unstructured stimuli), we can explore individual personalities. Frank gave these procedures the name “projective methods.” At the time, this paper was quite sensational, and the concept and term "projective methods" quickly permeated the field of clinical psychology, and the Rorschach method came to be positioned as a representative of such ones.

The behavior of people when confronted with unstructured stimuli is quite diverse. In other words, the response have a lot of latitude. This makes it difficult to quantitatively process the responses. This point would eventually lead to numerous criticisms from the standpoint of “science.” How did those who received criticism respond? Of course, not all experts in projective methods, but some researchers and practitioners of the Rorschach methods have chosen to take their criticisms seriously and respond to them in a sincere manner. And this choice has brought a firm scientific foundation to the world of projective methods.

Frank's article contained another important thing. It was pointed out that the projective methods may reveal “what (client) cannot or will not say” (Frank, 1939, p. 395; p. 404; p. 408). In the past, this statement tended to be interpreted as that the projective method, like X-rays, reveals the client's unconsciousness. With hindsight, it seems that what this description represents is not limited to “unconsciousness.” From a contemporary perspective, this description can rather be read to include a broader meaning of “narrative.”

If the projective method elicits narratives, it draws the examiner into the world in which the client lives. And if the two of them talk about it and share it, the client will truly experience “being understood” by others. It empowers the client and creates an environment for new narratives. This is a therapeutic use of the projective method. Of course, there have been attempts to use projective methods in psychotherapy for some time. In recent years, however, as the concept of narrative has become more widespread in the clinical psychology field, the therapeutic use of the process of projective methods itself has become more and more common, and has actually been effective.

Although very rough, this is a brief review of the history of projective methods, including the Rorschach. The fundamental human desire to "read people" and "be understood by others" has always existed. Practitioners and researchers of projective methods should be modest before these fundamental desires. Therefore, we must constantly reexamine our methods and improve our skills in getting to read people. Furthermore, as times change, technology advances and our perspectives change. The traditional approach can naturally draw criticism. In these cases, if the criticism is legitimate, it is important to take it seriously and be flexible and adapt to change. It is this attitude of being open to new things that will allow the projective methods to alive and develop. We must keep in mind that when we lose this attitude, any technology or knowledge will eventually lose its power.

President
Yuji Takase

Ⅱ. History

The JSRPM was founded on November 29, 1997. A brief history of the establishment of the society is presented below.

Prior to 1997, there were regional groups of researchers that deliberated the Rorschach method all over the country, and even today each group continues to be actively engaged in research. Although moves to form an institute dedicated to the Rorschach and other projective methods had been considered on several occasions in the past, it did not materialize for various reasons. In meetings after the 31st issue of the Rorschachiana Japonica, however, the editorial staff reflected on interactions between Rorschach practitioners. As a result, the promotion of Rorschach research was considered to be crucial. Furthermore, an extensive editorial board meeting of the journal was held, along with “the Rorschach symposium ’95,” hosted by the Nagoya research group in Japan, which deliberated the establishment of “The Rorschach Association” (a tentative name) and the direction of international and nationwide interactions. The topics that were discussed were as follows:

1. The regional research groups need a place for exchanging information
2. The International Society of the Rorschach and Projective Method, an international organization, host international conferences once every three years. Researchers from other countries attending these conferences have shown an interest in Rorschach research conducted in Japan. However, there was no nationwide institute to organize and serve this purpose.
3. Building the foundation for edition and issuing the Journal of the Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods, was deliberated so that the journal would be sustained in the future, to serve as a national communication forum.
4. There were no public organizations, or agencies to ethically monitor the circulation and the sale of Rorschach pictures, or misuses of the test.
5. There was no group of professionals that could provide expert advises about the education and clinical standards for the Rorschach.
   The rigorous discussions in the extensive editorial board meeting resulted in the formation of a working group to work on the details for establishing the society. The members of the working group were nominated from regional research groups. Furthermore, a preparatory committee was formed consisting of the current and previous editorial staff of the Rorschachiana Japonica, who were the original proposers. On February 4, 1996, the eight nominees of the working group held a meeting at Chukyo University, and they discussed the rules, the membership fees, and aspects of the bulletin. Later in that February, they provided the draft to the editorial board, and the board soon suggested the draft to other editors, and at the same time, they were requested to recommend the founders. Along with their valuable opinions, a total of 74 founders were nominated. A preparatory committee developed rules based on the opinions that were collected, and the founding prospectus was created. Then, a nationwide call for membership began on September 1st in 1996. Please see the founding prospectus (separate section).

The preparatory committee meeting was held on February 11, 1997, to establish the structure of the society. The committee selected delegates and auditors from the nominated founders in accordance with the custom of other institutes. A total of 22 delegates and auditors were selected, and all of them accepted the offer. A vote was held by mail sent on April 10th, 1997, and the ballots were collected with the end of the April being the closing date. The president and four executive directors were elected from among the 20 selected delegates, by this vote.

The foundation of the JSRPM and the first general meeting were held simultaneously in Kanazawa, Japan, in place of “the Rorschach symposium ‘97” that was hosted by the research group in Kanazawa.

(Editor Toshiki Ogawa)

Ⅲ. Founding Prospectus

We are announcing the establishment of the “Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods” for the further development of the Rorschach. We hereby explain our mission and call for members.

Ever since the Rorschach method was first introduced in Japan by Yuzaburo Uchida in 1930 in the journal Kyouikushinrigaku-Kenkyu (Educational Psychology), the Rorschach has been widely utilized in clinical psychology as an assessment technique. Even now, it is a popular assessment tool used by Japanese clinical psychologists. Rorschachiana Japonica was first published in 1958 through 1975, by the Rorschach research group in Tokyo, presided by Yasushi Kataguchi. The journal served 37 issues for developing and spreading research on the Rorschach.

The idea of founding the Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Method had been planned for a number of years. We discussed this idea in an extensive editorial board meeting of the Journal of the Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Method, which was held at the same time as the Rorschach symposium ‘95 in Nagoya in 1995. In the board meeting, the foundation of the JSRPM was approved. We intended to learn various Rorschach techniques and to contribute to spreading the Rorschach, promote research, and apply the Rorschach technique to various problems in the clinic. We also hoped that our members would actively participate in the International Congress of the Rorschach and Projective Methods. Researchers from other countries participate in international meetings together as a society. However, Japanese researchers participate at meetings only as individuals, which highlight a relative delay related to conference participation among Japanese researches.

The inaugural meeting for the establishment of the JSRPM was held in Kanazawa in 1997, which was followed by its first general meeting that was held in place of the Rorschach symposium ‘97. The activities of the JSRPM include the publication of the Journal of the Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods, as well as holding workshops and meetings, such as the Congress of the Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods and the Annual General Meetings of the Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods. We welcome scholars that have been involved in Rorschach and other projective methods, as well as those that plan to be engaged in such methods in the future, in relation to clinical psychology. We sincerely appreciate your interest and hope that you will become a member of the Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods.

September 1st, 1996
The founders of the Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods

Ⅳ. The Constitution of the Japanese Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods

Last amended: April 21, 2024