Rorschach test in legally sane murderers: a comparison between the comprehensive system (CS) and the Scuola Romana Rorschach (SRR) methods

Abstract

Up to date, in Italy, the Comprehensive System (CS) and the Scuola Romana Rorschach (SRR) are two widely Rorschach systems used in clinical and forensic fields. The present study has the purpose of comparing the results obtained by means of CS and SRR methods in the psychodia-gnostic assessment of homicides in a forensic setting. The Rorschach records of 30 murderers with no psychiatric history and without any psychiatric disease according to DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, tested according to the SRR in a forensic setting, and judged as ‘fully responsible’ (i.e. legally sane), were rescored according to CS. Both methods’ results highlighted a mild impairment of cognitive processing as well as marked difficulties in interpersonal relationship with both Ror-schach methods. Strong correlations were found (Pearson’s r, p < 0.001) between CS and SRR variables related to ‘cognitive mediation’ (CS: XA%, WDA%, X-%, X+%, Xu%; SRR: R+%, F+%, V, O) and interpersonal perception (CS: Human Content, Pure H, Isolation Index; SRR: H, H%, Hd, H+Hd, H%+Hd%).