The Anatomy of Change : A Menninger Foundation Report on Testing the Effects of Psychotherapy

The standard test battery developed by Rapaport, Gill, and Schafer at the Menninger Foundation constituted the most important research instrument (apart from clinical interviews) of the Foundations psychotherapy research project. The batterys influence on clinical diagnosis and on research in personality assessment and change has been tremendous. In the hands of highly trained and skilled psychologists, the battery, constructed chiefly around projective tests, has been invaluable for diagnosing difficult cases. The complexity of interpreting it, however, and the many dimensions along which its findings can be organized, have made it frustratingly difficult to use in formal research. And its cost, because of the great time investment it requires, has made clinicians reticent about using it on a large scale. Dr. Appelbaum, an experienced psychotherapist and psycho- analyst, was a distinguished member of the group of highly skilled psychologists who applied this test battery in the psychotherapy research reported here, although his role in this instance was re- stricted to analyzing the findings of others who administered and interpreted the tests. In recent years, Dr. Appelbaum has been eval- uating the mechanisms and effects of various psychotherapeutic approaches.