Discriminating borderline from neurotic patients. A study with the Holtzman Inkblot Technique.

The present study tried to separate 30 hospitalized borderline and 30 hospitalized neurotic patients by indicators of deviant thinking. Kolb and Gunderson's diagnostic interview for borderlines and the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) were applied as diagnostic instruments. It was possible to separate the two groups by the more severe degrees of deviant thinking with relatively high values for sensitivity and specificity (83 and 93%). If these results can be corroborated in cross-validations with independent samples, the HIT would be a very useful instrument for the discrimination of the two diagnostic groups.