The Rorschach in gynecological suffering: representations and complexes of the VI table

• Main Authors: Salvatore Settineri, Maria Le Donne, Irene Pagano Dritto, Amelia Rizzo, Carmela Mento
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Messina 2015-09-01
• Series: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
• Online Access: http://cab.unime.it/journals/index.php/MJCP/article/view/1089

Background. The literature shows that women with gynecological problems have psychosomatic alteration in the body image perception and sexual distress. To our knowledge, these issues have so far been analyzed separately and rarely through a projective methods. Aim. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of body image and its relative weakness in gynecological pathology, through the Rorschach projective method. Method. The observation group consists of 66 women with an average age of 49 ± 17 year, belonging to the clinic of the University Hospital Vulvologia and Colpocitologia "Gaetano Martino" of Messina. For the evalutation was used Rorschach, according to the clinical method, in order to explore the representations of the subject's inner world. Results. The responses to the Rorschach cards show a prevalence of anatomical and sexual content, devitalized animals and object, in particular to the table VI. We observed in women a complex regarding generativity that reveals a fragmentation of body image representation and of the sexual imaginative function of the inner world. Conclusions. The sexual suffering in gynecology is a dimension that influences the symptomathology in the extent to which the psychological aspects profoundly affect bodily perceptions, weakening the self-image and altering the course of the disease.   Keywords: body image, sexuality, Rorschach, psychosomatic gynecology.