Patient drawings and growth toward mature object relations: Observations of an art therapy group in a psychiatric ward

Abstract

Sinrod (1964) notes that visual communication often precedes verbal communication. Consequently, working with a nonverbal modality, such as an art product, may be likely to facilitate a more rapid development of a therapeutic alliance and permit interpretation of problematic issues to occur earlier in treatment than the traditionally used therapies that are primarily verbal. In her remarkable book, Sechehaye (1951) presents an account of her work with a schizophrenic woman in which a cure for the patient’s illness was accomplished through the use of symbolic, nonverbal communications. The patient was developmentally fixated in a stage of primitive conflict related to the formation of the ego. Contact was established with the patient through symbolic satisfactions of a nonverbal nature which allowed the analyst to make further gains in her efforts to rebuild the patient’s personality. Nelsen (1975) also writes about symbolic communication and the importance of nonverbal communication in work with schizophrenic patients. More recently Waxer (1980) notes that there currently exists a genera1 interest in nonverbal behavior in the field of psychology. As he explains, present research efforts reflect what has long been observed clinically: there appears to be a relationship between how a person feels and the nonverbal behavior observed. Haley (1976) similarly writes on the subject of nonverbal communication in his discussion of the metaphorical aspects of analogic communication. Satir (1972) provides numerous examples of the interpersonal implications of nonverbal communications, and Waxer relates that nonverbal cues are a “more direct index of man’s inner condition than judgements based on written or spoken materials” (p. 955). Loesch (1980) defines nonverbalized feelings as “emotions or feelings which the individual is unable to put into words (for whatever reason) but which are being communicated nonetheless. even though the person may not be aware that they are being communicated” (p. 965). Vaccaro (1973) states that in some instances the art product may be the only “source of information regarding unconscious mechanisms available to the therapist” (p. 84). Sinrod (1964) additionally notes, “often unconscious material appears in pictures earlier than in purely verbal exchange” (p. 174). Elinor Ulman (1962) states that “pictured projections of unconscious material escape censorship more easily than do verbal expressions, so that the therapeutic process is