German Rorschach, Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist: biography. Psychological tests on pictures

Rorschach Herman is a Swiss psychiatrist who went down in history thanks to the author's methodology of personality research. Later, this test was used to investigate disorders of consciousness. It is called "Rorschach Spots" and is a set of ten bent ink blots. Each of them causes the patient certain associations. The specialist fixes, analyzes and reveals the degree of disturbance of the psyche. In this article we will talk about Rorschach's test and present his brief biography. So, let's get started.

Parents

The Rorshachs were in the community of the small town of Arbon in northern Switzerland. The ancestors of Herman did not leave it for several centuries. His father Ulrich was the first to break the tradition. In 1882, he married the Philippines to Widenkeller and two years later left his hometown.

First they went to Zurich. But after the birth of Herman (in 1884), the Rorschach family moved to the town of Schaffhausen. Ulrich worked as an artist-decorator, but the work did not bring him satisfaction. Therefore, Rorshach the elder continued his studies at the school of applied art. He was a gifted draftsman and often fascinated children with stories depicted on paper. In 1886, Ulrich was taken as a teacher of painting at the school and Schaffhausen's school. He was an ingenious interlocutor, a caring husband and a kind person. His wife Filipina also possessed the same qualities.

Childhood

At first, Herman Rorschach visited the public school, and after his graduation moved to cantonal. It was distinguished by a higher level of education and better teaching staff. In all subjects Herman showed equally high results. He was a well-bred and zealous young man.

When Rorschach was 12 years old, his mother passed away. The housekeeper was now taking care of the boy, as well as Herman's brother and sister. Two years later, Ulrich married a distant relative of the deceased wife named Regina. She was an energetic and skillful woman, but Herman never managed to find a common language with her. In 1903 Ulrich died of an incurable disease. Before the end of the cantonal school, Herman had only 12 months left.

Nickname

In recent years, the students were allowed to join student unions. Herman Rorschach was enrolled in the company "Scafusia". It was there that the young man received the nickname Blot. And it was not an accident. At that time, the same name was gaining popularity among the young people. Of course, she fell in love with Rorschach. Blots were put as follows: on ink ink was added, then the sheet was folded in half. As a result, we got bizarre images. It is likely that it was the child's nickname and love for this game that prompted Herman to develop psychological tests on pictures.

There is another version of the origin of his nickname. Rorschach's favorite author was Wilhelm Bush. One of the stories of the poet featured the artist Kleksel. Many believed that it was in his honor that Herman got his nickname.

After graduation, Blade could not decide on the future profession. Herman was torn between natural sciences and art. Rorschach described his dilemma in a letter to Ernst Haeckel. He advised him to study the natural sciences. If you take into account the specialization of Haeckel, you could hardly get another advice. As a result, Herman chose medicine. At the age of 19 he went to study in Zurich.

Medicine

At that time, most students were sent to another institution after the end of each semester, and at the very end of the course returned to their native university. Rorschach followed the same path. He visited many educational institutions, including those in Germany and Russia. The hero of this article was very diligent, which allowed him to study for a doctor in just 5 years. In 1909 he received a diploma.

Personal life

After graduation, the young doctor had a choice: get a university clinic and receive a meager salary or go to the cantonal clinic, where the salary was much higher. In the same year 1909, Herman Rorschach announced an engagement with Olga Stempelin (he met a girl while studying in Russia). The young family needed money, so the hero of this article chose a cantonal psychiatric hospital. She was in Müsterlingen, on the shore of the picturesque Baden lake. Rorschach moved there with Olga.

In the clinic there were 400 patients. And the medical staff consisted of only three people - the chief doctor and two assistants. Social workers and secretaries were not, therefore, the duties of the assistants included bypassing offices, morning exercises and organization for patients of various activities. After performing their duties, the assistants had free time to go on a boat, swim in the lake or do other things.

Rorschach spent four years in Müsterlingen. Perhaps, it was the happiest period in his life. In 1910 he married Olga. The wedding took place in Geneva, in the Russian Orthodox Church. Later, the wife gave birth to a psychiatrist of two children.

Rorschach Ink Spots

After leaving the cantonal clinic, the hero of this article worked for several years in psychiatric clinics in Germany and Switzerland. The medical records he wrote were fundamentally different from those that his colleagues filled out. Herman deeply penetrated into the essence of mental deviations, trying to overcome the limitations of existing practices.

But the psychiatrist was not limited only to work. Research - that's what he devoted all his spare time to Rorschach. Blots still interested Herman. Experiment with them, he began as early as 1911 together with the teacher Conrad Goering. The latter allowed Rorschach to conduct tests on his students. The children were asked to stain a sheet of paper with a saber, fold it in half, and then open and describe what they saw below.

Publication of the work

It took Herman 10 years to research and analyze the results of the experiments. Only in 1921 he first published his psychodiagnostic test aimed at studying the personality. The patient was offered 10 tables with blots, and the associative connections that appeared after him were recorded. Later, the doctor analyzed the responses for a special system consisting of several categories. This work was called "Rorschach Spots" and forever inscribed Herman's name in history. Of course, at that time there were other psychological tests on pictures, but the technique of the hero of this article gave the most reliable results.

Herman constantly worked on improving it and finalizing the tables. Soon he said that they are outdated and very soon he will present new options. Unfortunately, the psychiatrist did not manage to do this.

Death

37 years old - this is the age in which Rorschach Herman went to another world. What he died of, few know. And this event is shrouded in a lot of legends. To understand the situation, we summarize a number of undeniable facts about the death of a psychiatrist.

On April 1, 1922, Hermann Rorschach, whose biography was presented above, fell into a threatening state at Herisau Hospital. All the previous week he had a bad stomach ache. Doctors recommended contacting the hospital, but he disregarded their advice and went only when it was already quite unbearable. The doctor, who examined him, discovered a severe diffuse peritonitis. Rorschach's condition was inoperable. The doctor tried to help Herman by applying the procedure of gas drainage (he inserted a rubber tube into the incision). After the patient, intravenous injections were made. Unfortunately, this did not help, and a day later Herman Rorschach died. After the autopsy, the doctors could not establish the exact cause of death. It was either perforation of the cecum or acute inflammation.

Rorschach was buried on April 5 in Zurich, in the cemetery of Nordheim. The tombstone was delivered by a psychoanalyst, a priest and an old friend of Herman Oscar Pfister. He described the Christian behavior of Rorschach before his death and his stoic self-control. Also, the speech was delivered by Professor Eigen Bleuler. The psychiatrist stressed that Herman's death is an irreplaceable loss for science and no one can complete the work of this brilliant researcher.