Projective techniques as psychotherapy.

Projective techniques, by bypassing the conscious resistance of anxiety and defenses, elicits information about the hidden side of perception and thoughts processes, personality, emotions, and psychodynamic processes. They thus enable an assessment of ego strength and the patient's ability to face unconscious content. The aims of psychotherapy similarly disclose the psychodynamics of symptoms formation and conflicts and help the patient to face them. In some respects the test administration procedure is analogous to the psychotherapeutic process. This makes test administration useful not only for diagnosis, but also as a therapeutic tool, especially in brief psychotherapy and when sharing the results with the patient. The therapist, by translating the results, stimulates the gradual gaining of insight and self-awareness at the patient's own pace. Sharing results may allay paranoid suspicions and fears concerning the test administration and the patient-therapist relationship. The meeting with one's own deep feelings acts as a catalyst in the therapeutic process and saves valuable time. Projective results are especially useful when the interpretations are juxtaposed with content arising in the therapeutic session.