Psychopathology of expression and psychoanalysis. The influence of the therapist's analytic orientation on the patient's art product.

Abstract

The graphic symbols produced by patients in analysis are essentially determined by the therapist's interpretations in the early stages of graphic communication. The patient learns the 'symbol language' of the therapist. The more intense the transference, the more evident is the adaptation of the graphic symbolism in the patient's art product to the symbol language of the therapist's analytical school. Sample cases, with predominantly Freudian or Jungian symbols in the patient's sequential graphic expressions, document that conflict resolution can be achieved equally well through different methods of graphic symbol interpretation. In any of the analytic methods, the impact of therapy can be enhanced by the use of graphic language between the analyst and patient.