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Bellak and Abrams suggested 3 major levels of interpretation;
a. Descriptive - Merely a short repeat of the story
b. Interpretive - Extends the descriptive level beginning with “If one . . . [does X, then the outcome will be Y].”
c. Diagnostic - A further extension in that an inference is made about the client.
It is possible for a report to be organized around the information noted on the 10 different scoring categories.
1. Unconscious structure and needs: Derived from categories 1 through 3.
2. Conception of the world and perceptions of significant persons: Derived from categories 4 and 5.
3. Relevant dimensions of personality: Derived from categories 6 through 10.
Further ratings can be noted for levels of intelligence and maturational level.
1. Main Theme
Restate the essential elements of the story. It should be as brief as possible and should aim to extract the essence of what has been described.
2. Main Hero/Heroine
The hero/heroine is usually the person who is most frequently referred to in the story.
3. Main Needs and Drives of the Heroine
12. Synthetic-Integrative Functioning
Clinicians must rate the client’s ability to actively reconcile difficult needs and conflicts.
13.Mastery-Competency
This final category requires a rating of the client’s overall sense of competency, especially as it relates to the outcome of different story themes.
6. Significant Conflicts
The major conflicts within the hero/heroine should be noted by reviewing the client’s current feelings and behaviors and assessing how congruent these are.
7. Nature of Anxieties
In addition to significant conflicts, clinicians should rate the nature and strength (✓, ✓✓, ✓✓✓) of the hero/heroine’s anxieties in terms of fear of physical harm and/or punishment, disapproval, lack or loss of love, illness or injury, being deserted, deprived, overpowered and helpless, devoured, or other.
10. Stimulus Barrier
The client’s stimulus barrier refers to how reactive a person is to various events (high/ low threshold). How does the person reacts to critcisms, or unpleaseant situations?
11. Autonomous Functioning
To what extent is the client disrupted by certain ideas, feelings, conflicts, or impulses?
10. Integration of the Ego
In general, the degree of ego integration is indicated by the quality with which the hero/heroine mediates between different conflicts. Specific observations can be made regarding the adequacy, quality, effectiveness, flexibility, and style of problem solving.
8. ARISE (Adaptive Regression in the Service of the Ego)
Can the client temporarily lower his or her defenses to increase awareness and help with problem solving? This would allow for a relatively free expression of primary process thinking in which the client can approach self and others from different perspectives.
9. Defensive Functioning
This category requires the clinician to rate the extent to which clients’ defenses protect them from internal anxiety-provoking impulses and conflicts.
5. Object Relations
Extent of the client's relationships to others. How long it is and its overall quality. How mature is the client and how free from maladaptive interpersonal patterns?
6. Thought Processes
This category requires a rating of the general adequacy and coherence of the client’s thought processes. Thus, careful attention should be given to the level of attention, concentration, memory, verbal ability, and abstract reasoning.
8. Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears
9. Adequacy of Superego as Manifested by “Punishment ” for “Crime”
3. Sense of Reality of the World and of the Self
Here, the clinician rates disturbances in the client’s sense of self, such as dissociative experiences, depersonalization, and dejà vu. These also relate to feelings of reality or unreality in the client’s perceptions of the environment.
4. Regulation and Control of Drives, Affects, and Impulses
How direct or indirect is the client’s expression of impulses? Can they be appropriately and effectively controlled and delayed? How high a tolerance is there for frustration? Is the client undercontrolled or overcontrolled? Can he or she monitor drives and express them in a modified and adaptive manner?
4. Conception of the Environment (World)
Summarize the most important and strongest conceptions of the person’s environment. Note the number and strength of descriptive words such as hostile, dangerous, or nurturing.
5. Figures seen as...
1. Reality Testing
2. Judgement
What is the client’s capacity for understanding a situation, particularly where interpersonal relationships are involved, and translating this understanding into an effective, coherent response?
1–3. Unconscious structure and drives of the subject (derived from scoring categories
1–3: Main Themes, Main Hero, and Main Needs and Drives of Hero).
4. Conception of world.
5. Relationship to others.
6. Significant conflicts.
7. Nature of anxieties.
8. Main defenses used.
9. Superego structure.
10. Integration and strength of ego.
Using the long form of the scoring system, each one of the cards/stories is scored on a single Analysis Sheet.
The overall story themes and contents can then be analyzed by noting the common themes and unique features throughout the different sheets.
a. Needs - "potentiality or readiness to respond in a certain way under certain given circumstances"
b. Press - environmental forces
scoring, and interpreting the TAT.
Bellak’s approach;
1. Analysis Sheet - 1 sheet for each cards/stories, it provides a guide and a frame of reference for TAT analysis that can be used later to organize and generate hypotheses about the person.
2. Ego Function Assessment from TAT data - to rate the person's ego functions.
Picture 5
Description of the card:
A woman is looking into a room from the threshold of a door.
Frequent plots:
A mother has caught her child misbehaving or surprised by an intruder entering the house.
General discussion:
Reveals information regarding subject's mother, elicits voyeuristic themes, paranoid fears of attack or intrusion by an outsider
Description of the card:
A woman is standing next to an open door with one hand grabbing the side of the door and the other holding her downcast face.
Frequent plots:
Interpersonal loss, guilt over past behavior
General discussion:
Tend to bring out depressive feelings, tend to bring out richer stories.
Picture 4
Picture 3GF
Description of the Card:
A woman is grabbing the shoulders of a man who is turning away from her.
Frequent plots: Woman as the advice-giving agent with the more impulsive and irrational man.
General discussions: Feelings and attitudes in male-female relationships, triangular jealousy
Description of Card:
A boy is huddled next to a couch. On the floor next to him is an ambiguous object that could be a set of keys or a revolver.
Frequent plots:
An individual who has been emotionally involved, feeling guilty over some past behavior, or a drug addict.
General Discussions:
it concerns themes of guilt, depression, aggression, and impulse control.
attitudes towards isolated self
Picture 3BM
Picture 2
Description of the card:
Country scene with a woman holding a book in the foreground. In the background, a man is working a field while a woman watches.
Frequent plots:
Young girl leaving to seek opportunities, Hardworking family
General Discussion:
Talks about family relations
How the individual deals with the challenge of people living together.
Competition by the younger sibling for attention
parent-child and heterosexual relationships
Description of the card:
A boy is sitting at a table looking at a violin placed on the table in front of him.
Frequent plots:
A self-motivated boy or a rebellious boy.
General discussion:
issue of impulse versus control
personal demands versus the external controlling agents
relationship with one's parents
information regarding the need for achievement
Picture 1
Standard Sequence of Cards
"This is a test of imagination, one form of intelligence. I am going to show you some pictures, one at a time; and your task will be to make up as dramatic a story as you can for each. Tell what has led up to the event shown in the picture, describe what is happening at the moment, what the characters are feeling and thinking; and then give the outcome. Speak your thoughts as they come to your mind. Do you understand? Since you have fifty minutes for ten pictures, you can devote about five minutes to each story. Here is the first picture. (p. 3)"
The back of each card is coded with a number and/or letters
- M or F, Male or Female
- B or G, Boy or Girl
- BM or GF, Boy/Male or Girl/Female
For children and people with mental illness.
This is a story-telling test. I have some pictures here that I am going to show you, and for each picture I want you to make up a story. Tell what is happening before and what is happening now. Say what the people are feeling and thinking and how it will come out. You can make up any story you please. Do you understand? Well, then, here is the first picture. You have five minutes to make up a story. See how well you can do. (pp. 3–4)
Description of Card:
A hazy, nighttime picture of a man leaning against a lamppost.
Frequent Plots:
Stories range from the benign theme of a late evening date to more sinister circumstances, perhaps involving a gangster who is in imminent danger.
General Discussion:
The picture often elicits information regarding a subject’s attitude toward loneliness, darkness, and uncertainty. Fears may be stated explicitly through gangster stories.
Picture 20
4 requirements of the story structure;
1. Current situation.
2. Thoughts and feelings of the characters.
3. Preceding events.
4. Outcome.
Description of Card:
A surreal depiction of clouds and a home covered with snow.
Frequent Plots:
Stories are highly varied because of the unstructured and ambiguous nature of the stimuli.
General Discussion:
For certain subjects, the ambiguous nature of this picture can create anxiety and insecurity.
Picture 19
Description of Card:
A woman has her hands around the throat of another
woman. In the background is a flight of stairs.
Frequent Plots:
Aggressive mother-daughter interactions or sibling relationships are often disclosed in response to this picture.
General Discussion:
The manner in which the subject handles aggressive, hostile relationships with other women is the primary type of information this picture
elicits.
Picture GF
Picture 18 BM
Description of Card:
A man dressed in a long coat is being grabbed from behind. Three hands are visible.
Frequent Plots:
Typical themes involve either drunkenness on the part of the figure who is being supported by the three hands, or stories in which he is being attacked from behind.
General Discussion:
This picture, more than any of the others, is likely to produce anxiety because of the suggestive depiction of invisible forces attacking the figure.
Thus, it is important to note how the subject handles his or her own anxiety, as well as how the story character deals with his situation.
Description of Card:
A female is standing on a bridge over water. Above the bridge is a tall building, and behind the building the sun is shining from behind clouds.
Frequent Plots:
A great variety of stories are elicited, although themes surrounding departure and social or emotional distance do occur with some frequency.
General Discussion:
Picture 17 GF
Picture 17 BM
Description of Card:
A naked man is climbing up (or down) a rope.
Frequent Plots:
Stories usually involve someone escaping from a dangerous situation or an athletic event of a competitive nature.
General Discussion:
Picture 12 M
Description of Card:
A man with his hand raised is standing above a boy who is lying on a bed with his eyes closed.
Frequent Plots:
Stories center on illness and/or the older man’s use of hypnosis or some form of religious rite on the younger, reclining figure.
General Discussion:
Description of Card:
A boy is sitting in the doorway of a log cabin.
Frequent Plots:
Themes of loneliness and stories of childhood are often elicited. However, because the stimulus is somewhat vague, the content and the nature of these stories tend to be extremely varied.
General Discussion:
This picture may help both adults and children to reveal attitudes toward introspection or loneliness. In adults, it frequently elicits reveries involving childhood memories.
Picture 13 B
Picture 13 G
Description of Card:
A girl is climbing a flight of stairs.
Frequent Plots:
The plots are similar to Picture 13B, usually involving themes of loneliness and/or distant childhood memories.
General Discussion:
Like Picture 13B, it can sometimes be useful in depicting a subject’s attitude toward loneliness and introspection.
Description of Card:
A young man is standing in the foreground with his head in his arms. In the background is a woman lying in a bed.
Frequent Plots:
General Discussion
Picture 13 MF
Picture 14
Description of Card:
A person is silhouetted against a window.
Frequent Plots:
This card produces themes of contemplation, wish fulfillment, or depression, or feelings related to burglary.
General Discussion:
Description of Card:
A man is standing among tombstones with his hands clasped together.
Frequent Plots:
Themes usually revolve around beliefs or events surrounding death and a hereafter.
General Discussion:
Stories from Picture 15 reflect the subject’s particular beliefs about, and attitudes toward, death and the dying process.
Picture 15
Picture 16
Description of Card:
A woman is sitting on a chair staring into space with her chin resting in her hand.
Frequent Plots:
Because this picture is vague and nonspecific, extremely diverse plots are developed and there are no frequently encountered themes.
General Discussion:
This picture is difficult to generalize about. Typically, it produces somewhat shallow stories of a contemplative nature.
Description of Card:
Blank card.
Frequent Plots:
Stories from this card are highly varied. It frequently elicits narratives related to a person’s life (current marital, family, and personal situation) and, to a lesser extent, idyllic, defensive, catastrophic, and achievement-oriented concerns.
General Discussion.
Instructions for this card are: Imagine a picture and then tell a story about it.
The card does little to shape or influence the subject’s fantasy material and can thus be seen as a relatively pure product of his or her unconscious.
Description of Card:
A young girl is seated on a couch and is holding a doll in her hands. Behind her is an older woman who appears to be reading to her out of a book.
Frequent Plots:
General Discussion:
Picture 8GF
Picture 8BM
Description of Card:
A young boy in the foreground is staring directly out of the picture. In the background is a hazy image of two men performing surgery on a patient who is lying down.
Frequent Plots:
The picture can be seen as a thinly veiled depiction of a young man’s oedipal conflicts, with concomitant feelings of castration anxiety and hostility. Thus, it is important to note what feelings the boy or other characters in the story have toward the older man performing the surgery.
Description of Card:
A young woman sitting on the edge of a sofa looks back over her shoulder at an older man with a pipe in his mouth who seems to be addressing her.
Frequent Plots:
The man is usually seen as proposing some sort of an activity to the woman, and the plot often includes her reaction to this suggestion.
General Discussion:
Picture 7GF
Picture 7BM
Description of Card:
An older man is looking at a younger man, who appears to be peering into space.
Frequent Plots:
General Discussion:
Obtain information about authority figures and, more specifically, the subject’s own father. The card can show how the subject deals with external demands and attitudes toward
authority.
Picture 6GF
Description of Card:
A woman in the foreground is standing behind a tree, observing another woman who is running along a beach below.
Frequent Plots:
General Discussion:
Picture 9BM
Picture 6BM
Description of Card:
On a road in a chasm, several figures are proceeding along a path toward a bridge. Above them and against the side of a cliff appears to be a dragon.
Frequent Plots:
Typically, stories of attack and escape are elicited in which the subject takes into account the dragon, the path, and the obscure figures in the distance.
General Discussion:
Picture 10
Picture 9GF
Description of card:
An elderly woman is standing parallel to a window. Behind her is a younger man with his face down. He is holding onto his hat.
Frequent Plots:
Typically elicits stories of a son who is either presenting sad news to his mother, or attempting to prepare her for his departure to some distant location.
General Discussion:
An source of information regarding the attitudes and feelings of males toward their mothers or maternal figures.
Description of Card:
A country setting depicts a tree, with a rowboat pulled up next to it. No human figures are present.
Frequent Plots: Stories frequently center on themes of loneliness, peace, or enjoyment
of nature.
General Discussion:
Description of Card:
Four men in a field are lying against one another.
Frequent Plots:
Stories typically provide some explanation of why the men are there and frequently describe them either as homeless wanderers or as working men who are taking a much-needed rest.
General Discussion:
This picture is particularly helpful in providing information about relations with members of the same sex.
Picture 12 F
Picture 11
Description of Card:
One person is holding his or her head against another person’s shoulder. The gender of the two persons is not defined.
Frequent Plots:
Stories usually center around some interaction between a male and a female, and may involve either a greeting between the two or a departure.
General Discussion:
Picture 12 BG
Description of Card:
A portrait of a woman is in the foreground; an older woman holding her chin is in the background.
Frequent Plots:
Stories center on the relationship or specific communications between the two figures.
General Discussion:
Questioning and Inquiry
Time measured should begin the picture is first presented and end when the subject begins his/her story.
Complete responses should be recorded
Usually, the cards should be administered according to their sequential numbering system.