Walking the tight rope

            The Bridge drawing is one of my all-time favorite assessments. It gives you an glimpse into a specific point in one’s life. If you’re like me, you are ever changing. I know that for me, I am not in the same place now as I was when I created the bridge drawing (for me, it was a tight rope drawing). I think I can probably do a bridge drawing just about every week and it would not be the same. It could be beneficial to administer this assessment at the beginning and end of treatment to note any change or progress experienced by the client.

            If I were assessing my artwork, I would want to focus on the fact that there are no supports for the bridge, there is a lack of scenery, nor is there an indication of where the person is going to or coming from. All of those seem to indicate a difficult transition and a lack of support- but I can neither confirm nor deny the validity of those assumptions.

Favorite Kind of Assessment

     This assessment is one of my personal favorites. I think it is beneficial when working with clients how are resistant to communicate their preferences. In doing this assessment myself, I found that it is very useful in allowing the client to share personal preferences. I had a client who had a difficult time expressing anything about his feeling or preferences, and I planned on using this assessment to help him discuss his preference. Unfortunately, he did not want to do art therapy any more, and I never got the chance (oh well, maybe next time!) I think another reason for its success is because it is simple to conduct and the supplies are not complicated. The only thing needed are crayons and a sheet of standard xerox paper. These are materials that almost anyone is comfortable with, which may reduce client anxiety.

(Not Your Typical) Bird Nest Drawing

            Interesting- Not your typical bird nest. This is a rendering ogf a client’s artwork. The client states that it was a humming bird’s nest.

            The bird nest drawing (BND) asks the client to draw a bird nest and to write a short story about it. The assessment measures attachment styles. The art work does not seem to suggest poor attachment; however, prior history suggests otherwise. I selected this assessment for this client because his charts indicate that there are strained family relationships. The client did not depict anything but the nest. It was a head-on view of the nest. It also was not a typical bird nest, it was a humming bird nest.

            The story describes how the nest was made and that the nest was “cozy.” Ut did not say anything about those who inhabit the nest. This would lead me to believe that the home may be comfortable but I also wonder why his charts indicate differently. During our next session, I will administer the KFD to examine family relationships and structure. I think that both of these assessments can work well together and lend support to each other when trying to understand family dynamics.

UPAP

           Seriously!? This assessment did nothing for me but irritate me. Okay, maybe I’m over reacting, but not by much. Literally, I feel like I was working on this assessment forever! I just know that this series of four drawings made me frustrated. I felt like with each consecutive drawing, I was losing motivation. It could be because there were no time contraits placed on the drawings. Also, it could be because there is a lack of structure in this assessment. The assessment askes the participant to complete four drawings three of which are based on scribble drawings.

            The materials, similarly, frustrated me. I kept on tarring my newsprint and the pastels kept breaking. It would be better to do the art on stronger papers, as well as adding more structure by imposing a time limit. The time limit could help the participant focus more on the task instead of getting distracted . I could have had a bad experience with this directive because of my mood that day (I don’t recall). I would like to try it again under different circumstances. But I think my experience is an example of the delicacy of assessments. An assessment is only a snapshot of one point in time. It is impossible to control for every possible variable.

Who picks and apple from a tree... seriously?

     The person picking an apple from a tree assessment is used as a way of identifying patholigical tendencies. The formal elements of art therapy scale (FEATS) is used as a rating system for this assessment. It simply asks for the client to draw a person picking an apple from a tree, and the rest is fair game.

     One day I was drawing with a little girl and she asked me what she should draw. Of course, I told her to draw a person picking an apple from the tree (her parents were totally okay with it). 

This rendering shows that she had a clever way of getting the apple. It fell on her. There is an absence of a ground line; however, the page line could be considered the ground line. The girl was only 7, thus she is right on track as far as her artistic development. It could be inferred from her drawing that perhaps she does not have to work hard for what she is given, since the apple comes to her. Her parents and grandparents spoil her- she really doesn't have to work hard for what she is given (her parents totally agree!)

One foot, Two FEATS

            So I am not going to life, I was a little disappointed with the FEATS. Maybe it is my fault for not being educated before the assessment, but since the rating scale for the DDS is the FEATS, I thought I would get a diagnosis. But since we do not diagnose, I thought at least I would get an idea of specific pathology, but no! It really only measures if the client is presenting pathological behavior or not. I guess that is all right, but I was expecting more. I think for my purposes, I would rather use an assessment that can indicate some specific pathology. Is it possible to assess the artwork for the DDS with Lowenfeld’s levels of graphic development? Maybe the PPAT would be beneficial, if it was looking at specific pathology.

Excuse me! Did you just Cathart?

            During an unexpected chain of events I accidently catharted in class. I blame it on the DDS! During this assessment in which I was instructed to draw three images, one of which was how I was feeling that day, I was able to release a lot of energy and turn sublimate into something acceptable- pretty cool, It was probably the first time in my life! Now it may have been because I has a bad day on the job, or maybe because it was getting late, but as I progressed through the individual stages of the assessment I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated. And then I let it rip! With one bold streak of a red pastel I was off. Releasing all sorts of energy, but the amazing thing was that I was able to bring it full circle, and I found myself at peace when I was done.

          

     I though I was crazy, but when I did the assessment on another person, I found that she had the same reaction. Especially going into the third drawing. She began the image quite frustrated and ended at peace (only after experiencing a healthy dose of catharsis). I had the same results with yet another person as well. This leads me to wonder if the DDS assessment had any intrinsic therapeutic value or if it was a random coincidence of what happens when you release energy on a bad day.

You’ve been Crit Carded- 10 minute penalty

            Cart cards are tools that teachers and student can use to understand, evaluate, and interpret art. Credit for these handy cards goes to Tom Anderson. I chose to interpret one of my favorite sculptures according to one of the crit cards.

PIETA by Michelangelo- (obvious choice for someone like me)

            It is difficult for me to say what this work means because I know what the artist intended. I think that it not only captures that moment when Mary held her Son after He was taken down from the cross. The anguish that any mother would feel while holding her lifeless child is strewn across Mary’s Face. Mary is LARGER than Jesus because her size is supposed to indicate Mary as mother of the God and the Church (welcoming and universal).  As a character in the piece I could only imaging feeling tremendous consolation being held as a child. However, I could imagine the agony of holding one’s lifeless child, let alone God. I would title this piece “Unyielding.” Not to get too philosophical/ theological, BUT, in that moment (Holy Saturday- the day after Jesus died) the whole world was truly in despair- because they were without their savior. They were not sure of anything. But during that time, Christ descended into hell to kick ass and take names. Not even deal could stop Him.

Point of contention:

          

  There is a place in the crit cards that asks to ascribe worth to a piece. How is it possible that anyone could ascribe worth to another’s art? Indications of worth are truly subjective and although subjection may be all right for art education, ascribing worth in art therapy could be detrimental to the client.

3.2.1... Brawl

It has been argued that arts based instruments are counter therapeutic and even exploit clients- how can clinicians practice without involving exploitation? 

EXPLOITATION STATION:
Medical Model: Using an art based assessment to diagnose someone
Too quick to diagnose
Selfish motivations
Interviewer bias- OBJECTIVITY




This is how clinitians can practice without involving exploitation:
Using assessments when it is appropriate. 
Assessments can be used to lend support  

Client input should be taken into account

Objectivity


Note: The only way people will get the help they need is through assessments


Assesment according to Lowenfeld's Stages of artistic development:


Age: 17- 7th Grade- Schematic Stage


Client experienced loss of grandmother at 10 year old. Transitioned between mother and father's home. Child has a history of physical and substance abuse. Client is unable to read. Diagnosed with mild mental retardation.

Are YOU talking to ME?!- Interviews

So what do I and  a transgendered histrionic client in common? Not what you think! Nothing actually. In a roll playing exercise, I was "asked" (Really, They forced me to do it) to be the therapist to a transgendered individual with a flirting problem. It was difficult because it was obviously a fake situation, but because we were trying to diagnose the client. I was unsure of why type of questions to ask, not because I was afraid to ask, but because I was not composed- I don't do well in chaos (I'm trying to work on that!). Had this been a real life situation, I'm sure it would not have been this difficult, but with the rest of the class watching (and laughing) it was difficult- someone else had to finish the session. But I digress-

KFD: Kentucky Fried Drawing?

So in class, we did a Kinetic Family Drawing (KFD). To be perfectly honest- I'm a little skeptical of it. I think that it is interesting, but I feel like I may have been misunderstood. I drew a picture of my family from a memory of one particular moment... a wine pairing (phenomenal!) party for my mother's 50th birthday. I don't draw- I sculpt. So when I draw, I start out sketchy and work the image until it kind of looks like what I want to depict. In analyzing my picture it was mentioned that the family seamed distant with each other and that I focused on some people more than others. All of which I wrote off. If anything, I think more could be gathered from the sketchy quality of the image- maybe I am insecure about drawing ability!? I'll survive.
Truth be told, you can't totally write off the KFD, but the depictions in the art cannot be taken as hard fact. It may be a good jumping off point. With care, it can be a useful technique to gather more information about family dynamics. Avoid jumping to conclusions!

Here We Go!

So here I am- one of only 6% of male art therapists- correction I am just an art therapy student. I'm not there yet. I wonder how many male art therapy student exist- that could be an even smaller number. Not that gender is an issue but I'm just throwing that out there. Enjoy my remarks- dare I say, they are a little off color, but never meant to show disrespect. In this blog is will reflect upon several art therapy assessments you'll be lucky enough to get my opinion!