Rorschach Assessment of Traumatized Refugees: An Exploratory Factor Analysis

Fifty-one multitraumatized mental health patients with refugee backgrounds completed the Rorschach (Meyer & Viglione, 2008), Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, and Hopkins Symptom Checklist–25 (Mollica, McDonald, Massagli, & Silove, 2004), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF questionnaire (WHOQOL Group, 1998) before the start of treatment. The purpose was to gain more in-depth knowledge of an understudied patient group and to provide a prospective basis for later analyses of treatment outcome. Factor analysis of trauma-related Rorschach variables gave 2 components explaining 60% of the variance; the first was interpreted as trauma-related flooding versus constriction and the second as adequate versus impaired reality testing. Component 1 correlated positively with self-reported reexperiencing symptoms of posttraumatic stress (r = .32, p < .05). Component 2 correlated positively with self-reported quality of life in the physical, psychological, and social relationships domains (r = .34, .32, and .35, p < .05), and negatively with anxiety (r = –.33, p < .05). Each component also correlated significantly with resources like work experience, education, and language skills.