Letter to Psychiatrist: Dr. Singh 1/21/97

January 21, 1997
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008

Dr. Singh
Community Mental Health Ctr.
North Annex
Washington, DC 20007

Dear Dr. Singh:

In May 1994 I underwent comprehensive psychological testing, performed by a clinical psychology intern (M.A. level), at the George Washington University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry. Enclosed for your information is the written psychological evaluation ("test report"), which summarizes the results of the testing.

http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2009/10/psychological-test-results-gw-may-1994.html

Also enclosed is a copy of a technical paper that may be useful in interpreting biases and distortions in the test report: Myden, W. "An Interpretation and Evaluation of Certain Personality Characteristics Involved in Creative Production." A Rorschach Reader, 149-167. Edited by M.H. Sherman (New York: International Universities Press, 1960).

Especially instructive is the material at pages 164-166 that discusses certain personality trends of creative persons, including those trends that relate to inner-directed behavior.

A significant bias in the test report is the intern's persistent trend of interpreting fundamentally inner-directed behaviors as the product of other-directed needs. Thus, the test report refers to my need to impress with a "stellar performance" on the Rorschach (p. 4); in fact, as the enclosed technical paper amply indicates, Rorschach responses of creative persons tend to be far more expansive than those of non-creative subjects.

The test report also depicts as pathological personality trends that are routinely found in creative persons. The test report depicts my hypervigilence as paranoid (p. 5), while Myden (p. 165) asserts that creative persons typically "reach out for every form of clue in their environment and retain almost every bit of information."

Sincerely,

Gary Freedman