Pay close attention: Don’t just dismiss drawing pictures and playing games as trivial activities…
“Drawings made during traumatic periods are always a sensitive issue” The drawing should be interpreted together with the child who created it!
The famous painter Picasso’s quote “Painting is just another way of keeping a diary” is one of the important quotes that emphasizes the role of paintings in reflecting children’s inner world. Especially in children, since the conscious and unconscious are in very close contact, children have the ability to directly represent the unconscious. One of the most important means of communication used in self-expression is drawing.
Children express their current situation, memories, and truth more clearly, strongly, and courageously than adults. This courage accelerates their post-trauma situation, perception, and acceptance process. However, Communication Consultant and Art Therapy Practitioner Tüge Sungay emphasized the importance of handling projective drawing tests used when working with children and adolescents more carefully during trauma periods. Sungay stated, “We should avoid directive approaches such as asking children to draw the moment of the earthquake, draw a house, draw a family picture. They should draw what they want to draw, whenever they want to draw it. For example, it can be seen that children in the region use colors in very different meanings than those in literature. Therefore, it is important to avoid rigid practices, assumptions, and narratives and evaluate the drawing with the child who made it. The information obtained through drawing in an intervention-free environment should be combined with the information obtained from the child through verbal communication. The process of drawing and the conversation that follows on the drawing is one of the most important steps in reducing the child’s anxiety.”
Kahramanmaraş 6 February 2023 disaster that affected 10 provinces, Communication Consultant and Art Therapy Practitioner Tüge Sungay emphasized that children are the most sensitive group after the disaster, and it is important not to intervene in their relationship with paper and pen, especially during trauma periods. “Draw your family” and “Draw a person” tests are frequently used projective methods in children and adolescents, but considering the children who still live in the earthquake region and stay in temporary housing such as tents and containers, it is recommended to avoid these methods that contain limited instructions, at least for a while,” said Sungay.
The biggest mistake is interpreting a picture without taking into account the child’s perspective.
Painting, which is an important branch of art therapy, is the most powerful tool of nonverbal communication. The colors and symbols in children’s drawings are a reflection of their inner world and are unique to each individual. Since the figures drawn, colors used, and symbols change depending on the context, the child can be asked to draw at different times and intervals. In art therapy, evaluation should be done without being bound to the colors and symbols found in literature, and the colors and symbols used by the child should be evaluated from their perspective. The biggest mistake is interpreting the picture independently of the child. Information obtained through painting should be combined with information obtained through verbal communication. After art therapy, if necessary, the child and their family should be referred to a specialist psychiatrist or psychologist.
We should observe what the child is doing with which emotion, color, order, and attitude.
Recognizing and expressing their emotions starts with the child drawing. The process of recognizing, making sense of, and even coping with their fears, anxieties, longings, disappointments, and anger emerges at this stage. Concepts that they do not want to touch upon, such as “Nothing scares me,” expressions of nonchalance such as “I don’t care,” and concepts that they insistently focus on, such as “I’m very scared, I miss them very much,” the symbols and colors that represent these concepts, and even the order and attitudes they follow while drawing them are an expression of the child’s inner world, and each of them is very valuable.
When conducting art therapy through drawing, it is important to pay attention to the following:
Create a non-interventional environment.
Avoid giving instructions.
If the child has a question while drawing, wait for them to finish before answering.
Make them feel that they are alone with the paper and pen and are free to express themselves.
If possible, draw together with them.
Avoid evaluating or interpreting the child’s drawing independently of the child.
Ask the child to describe their drawing to you.
If they agree, listen to them carefully and take notes.
Do not give advice, judge, or make suggestions after the drawing.
Do not share the child’s drawings with others without their permission.
About Tüge Sungay:
Tüge Sungay, a graduate of the Faculty of Communication at Marmara University, continued her career in brand management after starting as a journalist in the Special News Unit of Nokta Magazine. She has taken on leadership roles in the strategic communication planning processes of Turkey’s leading institutions, multinational companies, and civil society organizations. Sungay also provides leadership communication consultancy to leading business owners in Turkey. Today, Sungay implements different approaches that focus on the company’s “children” working brand and utilizes the therapeutic power of art in the human resources projects of the institutions she works with.
When she decided to transfer her knowledge and experience in communication to children through art, Sungay completed the Golden Age University Art Therapy Education Program, and then the Ankara University Child Drawing Analysis and Psychological Drawing Tests Education Program, realizing that visual arts can often be more powerful than verbal communication. Sungay is currently continuing her education in the Istanbul University Child Development Undergraduate Program.
