Understanding Personality through Projective Testing

Fantastic description of personality development and how an experiential understanding of development and mental health is best serves the assessment and treatment process. I have a much better understanding of how projective testing can inform the assessment process.as an adjunct to intelligence testing and self-report measures.

This book is an absolute gem. Tuber is a master clinician and teacher with decades of experience in personality assessment. He outlines -- with exciting clarity -- a vivid, layered psychodynamic theory of personality development. He then teaches the use of projective assessments (the Rorschach, TAT, etc.) in close conjunction with that theory. His view of how to use projective assessments, and what they mean, goes far, far beyond the basics as normally taught. Yet the book remains accessible and beginner-friendly from cover to cover. Tuber's strength as a writer is the lucidity and experience-nearness that he maintains throughout, delightfully sprinkled with clinically informative side-notes and anecdotes. And his goal is clear: to show how projectives -- rigorously and sensitively interpreted through a rich theory of personality -- can help the assessing clinician to develop a thoughtful, living picture of the individual, a picture that effectively and usefully helps to link psychological dynamics (affects, object relations, and defenses), clinical history, and cognitive profile. The book, generally full of case material, culminates with a case example in which Tuber discusses data in detail and then integrates the results from each of the projective instruments into a broader, nuanced case profile. He ends with thoughts about the human, interactive aspects of the testing process itself. This is an essential book for the psychodynamic clinician, beginning to advanced, and especially for those interested in deepening their understanding of personality assessment.

As a former student of Dr. Tuber's and a practicing clinical psychologist, I was delighted to hear that he was writing a book about projective testing and personality assessment. I was even more pleased to read the finished product, which I found as riveting and inspiring as his classes. Dr. Tuber's assessment classes were among the absolute highlights of my training. His way of thinking about personality, assessment, and development inform my thinking about patients every day, with every clinical encounter. Dr. Tuber is brilliant at testing, yes, but still more important is his emphasis on the importance of viewing the individual as a whole person, and on using projective testing data to develop a comprehensive, nuanced, and humane understanding of the individual's inner world. This book is an essential guide for testers, whether beginner or advanced, but also for all clinicians who strive to understand their patients, in all their multi-layered complexity, with compassion and respect.

Excellent service and product!

"Understanding Personality Through Projective Testing" shows how projective tests can help the assessing clinician develop a thoughtful, sensitive, and comprehensive portrait of the individual. Dr. Tuber demonstrates how psychological dynamics (affects, object relations, and defenses) can be skillfully interwoven with clinical history and cognitive functioning. I have read a number of books on projective testing and this one is simply the best; it elucidates rich theory of personality functioning and projective testing with prose that is fluid, easily understandable, and enjoyable. The inclusion of a case of a comprehensive battery of projective testing on a single adult patient makes the preceding chapters come alive--not an easy feat given the complexity of the material at hand. More broadly, the clinical material included throughout stimulates the clinician to think in deeper and more nuanced ways about the complexities of each patient's `actual experience' through the lens of rich psychodynamic theory of personality functioning. This book is a gift that Dr. Tuber has given to future generations of clinicians and testers; his experience in the field as a tester and brilliant therapist is reflected in the wisdom of this book, and it will surely become a must-read for novice and seasoned clinicians alike. It will indeed always be kept close at hand throughout my clinical practice.

As a former student of the author's, I remember his Assessment class, on which this book is based, as one of the most formative experiences of my clinical training. Dr. Tuber's humane and vividly-evoked insights into the nuances of development and personality have profoundly shaped the way I think not only about testing but also about the messy, miraculous realities of what it means to be a human being.This book beautifully captures not only these insights themselves but also Dr. Tuber's unique storytelling voice, the depth and generosity of his view of people, and his gift for inviting the reader/student into his thought process. A virtuosic tester, Dr. Tuber is skilled at explaining the roots of his ideas in a way that is intricately detailed yet also playful, accessible and experience-near. With the publication of this book, I'm delighted to have a written record of Dr. Tuber's artful approach to projective testing as a means of understanding the whole person. I know I will return to it often for inspiration and guidance throughout my career, and I hope many others will discover and return to it as well.