Evidence to correct misperceptions about Rorschach norms

Possible factors affecting normative shifts in Rorschach data are considere d, including (a) genuine changes in mental health over time, (b) alteration s in the type of target sample under consideration, (c) evolving scoring ru les, and (d) variations in test administration skills or context. I show th at the Comprehensive System (CS) criteria for coding form quality have chan ged substantially over time. Building on the extensive research of others, I also show that CS data collected around the world from people tested outs ide of a clinical context look somewhat less healthy than Exner's reference sample of socially/vocationally functioning nonpatients but somewhat more healthy than Exner's reference sample of people starting outpatient psychot herapy. Furthermore, preliminary results from Exner's new nonpatient sample recruited using the same procedures as before reveals scores that are gene rally quite similar to the existing reference values. The assertion that CS norms overpathologize people is not supported.