This study aims to investigate ego impairment in parents of children with autism and compare it with ego impairment in parents of normal children using the Rorschach Ego Impairment Index. We selected 30 parents of children with autism (=15 couples) and 30 parents of normal children (=15 couples), living in Mashhad, Iran, in 2013, through convenience sampling procedures and performed the Rorschach Ego Impairment Index. After the protocol coding of participants, we calculated each subject's score

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... in the Ego impairment index. The results were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance (K-W) to determine significant differences in the mean scores between the two groups. The results showed thatego impairment in parents of children with autism were significantly higher than in parents of normal children (P<0.05).The weighted sum of cognitive codes of parents of children with autism was significantly higher compared with parents of normal children (P<0.05).There was a significant difference in the components of critical contents, good/poor human representation, and number of responses between parents of children with autism and parents of normal children (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the components of bad form-quality and poor human motion between parents of children with autism and parents of normal children (P>0.05). Parents of children with autism suffer from impairment in functionsof the ego. Ego impairment in parents may cause destructive and inefficient cognitive and behavioral patterns and increase the risk ofchildhood autism spectrum disorder.