Empathic Insights From the Rorschach: Paul Lerner's Legacy

Abstract

In this article, I review the contributions of Paul Lerner concerning his “humanistic-clinical attitude” in using the Rorschach (Exner, 2003) with patients. To illustrate Paul's empathic attitude, I present a case in which the patient's percepts reflected his relationship problems and his experience of me and others as a threat to his emotional integrity. Asking the patient to give voice to his Rorschach percepts, thereby amplifying his experience of me and his world, helped me become empathically tuned to him, as described by Paul in his writings and in his approach to patients.

Acknowledgments

A version of this article was presented at the Annual Meeting, Society for Personality Assessment, Arlington, VA, March 9, 2007 as part of the symposium, “The Heart of Assessment: Celebrating the Work of Paul Lerner.” I thank Herbert M. Potash for reading and critiquing this manuscript.