Eli5: Why do/did (not sure if it’s still in practice) therapists hold up black and white splatter looking images and ask the client “what do you see?” What could their answer say about that person?
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That’s the Rorschach. It’s a type of psychological assessment known as a projective test (other examples are the Thematic Apperception Test and House Tree Person). Basically, your psychologist wants you to report what you see in these images as a way of learning more about how your mind works. They compare your report to that of hundreds/thousands of other people previously to see if any patterns or differences stick out and what that might mean.
People used to think the Rorschach could be used to diagnose all sorts of things or predict how people would behave, and it was once used very widely. Now, though, much of its research has been debunked, it’s recognized as an extremely subjective test, and it can really only be trusted to diagnose psychosis or other severe disturbance of reality, and even then it’s pretty unreliable.
A classic example we were taught in school: on one of the cards, most people will say they see like a butterfly or something. A person with schizophrenia who was hospitalized in an institution said of the same card, “It’s a fabulous penis with wings.”
The Rorschach isn’t used very commonly these days, and even then it’s not appropriate to use in a therapeutic setting, only pure assessment. Your therapist should not be using the Rorschach with you to determine anything about your diagnosis or the best therapy approach for you.
Source: Am a therapist, did a ton of Rorschachs in grad school
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