Smith B L
Department of Psychiatry, Alta Bates-Herrick Hospital, Berkeley, CA 94704.
J Pers Assess. 1990 Winter;55(3-4):756-67. doi: 10.1080/00223891.1990.9674110.
This article examines the concept of potential space, developed by Winnicott (1971), and its relevance for Rorschach assessment. I propose that the response process can be viewed as occurring in the potential space between reality and fantasy and that various forms of psychopathology can be conceptualized as forms of the collapse of potential space. I suggest that this model can be of utility in interpreting the Rorschach protocols of a variety of difficult-to-diagnose patients. Examples from the Rorschach of a patient diagnosed with a dissociative disorder are presented to illustrate these points.
