Freud taught that our true selves can be discerned through what we say (think: "freudian slip"). Rorschach, a contemporary Swiss psychologist, thought that what we see is more revealing, and spent much of his life exploring the profound connection between what we see and what we feel. Why do schitzophrenics have physical sensations of things that they see happening when they know they aren't real? How do feelings manifest themselves through art? Why do people "feel" motion (or emotion) in static images? (It would seem like some knowledge of psychiatry would be needed to appreciate these issues, but the author walks the reader through all the various theories and makes them comprehensible to the layman.) The culmination of all these questions for Rorschach lay in the eponymous inkblot test, in which people are shown ten abstract paintings and asked to describe what they see.
When used correctly it can work wonders. But while Freud's theories have been endlessly explored, Rorschach's by contrast have been neglected and misused. The test is not a "personality test" (the online quizzes using the inkblots are in fact the opposite of how they work). It does not give answers; it provides the insightful psychologist with clues to explore. Later psychiatrists developed it so far as to have mathematical formulas which can be calculated. The author includes some case studies in which the Rorschach test, was used to detect crimes and criminals.
The blots look random: couldn't anyone make shapes and ask others what they look like? Not so: the designs, choice of color, the decision to mirror them, to do so vertically rather than horizontally, are all guided by artistic principles. Rorschach goes so far as to use art to treat his patients and in one scene brings a catatonic man to heal himself by drawing. Psychoanalysis of abstract art, he finds, is a powerful tool to understand the human mind in ways no other method can uncover. This aspect could carry its own book.
The author brings Rorschach's career to life with flair. He is an all-around likable renaissance man who holds parties and shows for his patients, experiments with photography, investigates cults, dabbles in abstract art. He witnesses wars, revolutions, and injustice within the psychiatric establishment with Dr. Zhivago-like impartiality, concerned only with the welfare of mankind. "'The most interesting thing in nature is the human soul," he wrote, "and the greatest thing a person can do is heal these souls, sick souls.' His life makes uplifting reading and I felt rewarded after learning about it.
The same way a gripping fact-based movie makes you to explore the truth behind it, The Inkblots will inspire those unfamiliar with psychology to explore it and the surprising ways it can help us.
You can check out more of Damion Searls work at his website:
http://www.damionsearls.com/
I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.
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