The Use of Projective Drawings to Assess Alexithymia

Abstract

Abstract. Background: The goal of this study was to investigate whether the results of assessments of alexithymia based on a self-report questionnaire, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), correlates with those based on drawing content in the Wartegg Drawing Completion Test (WZT). It was hypothesized that high alexithymia scores in the TAS are negatively correlated to the number of human drawings in the WZT. Method: Subjects were 83 patients of the Oulu Deaconess Institute, Oulu, Finland. Results: The TAS mean score for subjects with no human drawings was 56.0 compared to 45.4 for those with one or more human drawings (p < .001). Conclusions: The results can be considered encouraging concerning the overall usefulness and validity of the WZT. It is concluded that efforts to develop a psychometrically valid and reliable method of interpreting the WZT should be continued.