The Best and the Worst of Us?

Wood, Nezworski, Garb, and Lilienfeld provide a compelling critique of the norms developed by Exner for the Rorschach Comprehensive System. There does appear to be a systematic error that results in clinicians and researchers identifying pathology that may not in fact be present. Wood and his colleagues recommend that the Comprehensive System not be used in clinical or forensic work. The Rorschach is prone to excessive interpretation and should perhaps not have an appreciable or significant impact on the resolution of legal disputes. However, even Wood and Lilienfeld previously concluded that valid information can be obtained within a Rorschach protocol. The dispute over the Rorschach may be a flashpoint of a wider and more fundamental dispute within the profession.