The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a systematic approach to storytelling that offers insight into the unique psychological reality of each individual. This book integrates a variety of interpretive approaches to the TAT to illuminate the meaning of narratives and explore their clinical implications. Informed by psychodynamic theory and empirical research, the book addresses such topics as the ways narratives reveal different personality organizations; how stories change over the course of therapy; the influence of age, gender, and defense mechanisms on narratives; and the use of the TAT...

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a systematic approach to storytelling that offers insight into the unique psychological reality of each individual. This book integrates a variety of interpretive approaches to the TAT to illuminate the meaning of narratives and explore their clinical implications. Informed by psychodynamic theory and empirical research, the book addresses such topics as the ways narratives reveal different personality organizations; how stories change over the course of therapy; the influence of age, gender, and defense mechanisms on narratives; and the use of the TAT...

Integrating theory, research, and practical applications, this timely book provides a comprehensive examination of defense mechanisms and their role in both normal development and psychopathology. The author describes how children and adults mobilize specific kinds of defenses to maintain their psychological equilibrium and preserve self-esteem, particularly in situations of trauma or stress. Many lucid examples illustrate what these mechanisms look like in everyday life; the impact of age, gender, and personality differences; what happens when defenses are used maladaptively; and how they...

The idea that the human mind-that faculty of the intellect which we use to define and discern the truth-might also be used to deceive itself is not new. The classic orator Demosthenes warned of this possibility in 349 B.C. when he wrote that "Nothing is more easy than to deceive one's self; what a man wishes he generally believes to be true." 1 Even Jean Jacques Rousseau, who suggested the possibility of man as "noble savage," alerts us to this paradox, when he writes "Jamais fa nature ne nous trompe; c'est toujours nous qui nous trompons" ("Nature never deceives us; it is always we who...