Abstract
After many years of clinical practice, research and the teaching of projective tests, Shentoub and her colleagues (Debray, Brelet, Chabert & al.) put forward an original and rigorous method of analysis and interpretation of the TAT protocols in terms of psychoanalysis and clinical psychopathology. They developed the TAT process theory in order to understand how the subject builds a narrative.
Our article will emphasize the source of the analytical approach developed by V. Shentoub in the 1950s to current research; the necessity of marking the boundary between the manifest and latent content in the cards; the procedure for analyzing the narrative, supported by an analysis sheet for understanding the stories' structure and identifying the defense mechanisms; and how developing hypotheses about how the mental functions are organized, as well as their potential psychopathological characteristics; and the formulation of a diagnosis in psychodynamic terms.
In conjunction with the analysis and interpretation of the Rorschach test, this approach allows us to develop an overview of the subject's mental functioning, taking into account both the psychopathological elements that may threaten the subject and the potential for a therapeutic process. We will illustrate this by comparing neurotic, borderline, and psychotic personalities.
References
(1983). Les méthodes projectives
[The projective methods] . Paris, France: PUF.(2002). La feuille de dépouillement du TAT: Des origines à nos jours
[The score sheet of the TAT: From its beginnings until the present] . Psychologie clinique et projective, 8, 21–59.(2000). La feuille de dépouillement du TAT: Nouvelle formule, nouveaux procédés
[The collection and analysis sheet for TAT results: A new formula, new procedures] . Psychologie clinique et projective, 6, 305–327.(1986). Narcissisme et états-limites
[Narcissism and borderline conditions] . Paris, France: Dunod.(1986). Le TAT. Fantasme et situation projective
[The TAT. Fantasy and the projective situation] . Paris, France: Dunod.(1987). On cherche un metteur en scène
[A film director is looked for] . Psychologie française, 50 (32), 137–140.(2003). Nouveau manuel du TAT. Approche psychanalytique
[New TAT manual. Psychoanalytic approach] . Paris, France: Dunod.(1998). Psychanalyse et méthodes projectives
[Psychoanalysis and projective methods] . Paris, France: Dunod.. (2008–2010). Traité de psychopathologie de l’adulte (Les névroses, Narcissisme et Dépression, Psychopathologie des limites, Les psychoses)
[Treatise of adult psychopathology (neuroses, narcissism and depression, psychopathology of limits, psychoses)] . Paris, France: Dunod.(2008). Psychologie clinique et psychopathologie
[Clinical psychology and psychopathology] . Paris, France: PUF.(1997). TAT et économie psychosomatique : un bilan actuel
[A current assessment of the TAT and the psychosomatic economy] . Psychologie Clinique et projective, 3, 19–37.(1942). Some forms of emotional disturbance and their relationships to schizophrenia. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 11, 301–321.
(2008). Pratiques des épreuves projectives à l’adolescence. Approche psychanalytique
[Using projective techniques with adolescents. Psychoanalytical approach] . Paris, France: Dunod.(1895). Project for a scientific psychology Standard edition, Vol. I (1886–1899) (pp. 281–397). London, UK: Hogarth Press.
(1916–1917). Introductory lectures on psycho-analysis (Part III). Standard edition, Vol. XVI (1916–1917). London, UK: Hogarth Press.
(1990). La folie privée
[On private madness] . Paris, France: Gallimard.(1975). Borderline conditions and pathological narcissism. New York, NY: Jason Aronson.
(1935/1968). A contribution to the psychogenesis of manic-depressive states. Essais de Psychanalyse
[Contributions to psycho-analysis] (pp. 311–340). Paris, France: Payot.(1971). The analysis of the self: A systematic approach to the psychoanalytical treatment of narcissistic personality disorders. New York, NY: International Universities Press.
(1988). The language of psychoanalysis [original in French]. London, UK: Karnac Books.
(2010). Psychodynamic-oriented psychological assessment predicts evolution to schizophrenia a 8-year follow-up in adolescents hospitalized for a manic/mixed episode: Interest of an overall subjective rating. Journal of Physiology – Paris, 104, 257–262.
(1976). Les mouvements individuels de vie et de mort. Essai d’économie psychosomatique
[Individual movements of living and death. Contribution to psychosomatic economy] . Paris, France, Payot.(1943). Thematic Apperception Test. Paris: Centre de Psychologie Appliquée.
(2002). L’exigence narrative au TAT dans des protocoles d’auteurs d’agressions sexuelles
[The narrative particularity of the TAT in the protocols of authors of sexual aggressions] . Psychologie clinique et projective, 8, 157–181.(1970). La pratique du Rorschach
[The Rorschach in practice] . Paris, France: PUF.(1958). How was this story told? Journal of Projective Techniques, 22 (2), 181–210.
(1967). Projective testing and psychoanalysis. New York, NY: International University Press.
(1973). A propos du normal et du pathologique dans le TAT
[Study on the normal and pathological in the TAT] . Psychologie Française, 18 (4), 251–259.(1987). Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Théorie et méthode
[The TAT. Theory and method] . Psychologie française, 32 (3), 117–126.(1970–1971). Fondements théoriques du processus-TAT
[Theoretical fundamentals of the TAT process] . Bulletin de Psychologie, XXIV, 292 (12–15), 897–903.(1960). Recherche expérimentale et clinique du thème «banal» dans le TAT
[Clinical and experimental research on the “common response” theme in the TAT] . Psychiatrie de l’enfant, 3 (2), 405–524.(2011). The case of thematic tests adapted to older adults: On the importance of differentiating latent and manifest contents in projective tests. Rorschachiana, 32, 46–71.
(1958). Collected papers: Through paediatrics to psychoanalysis. London, UK: Tavistock.
