Both of these pictures were given to me as gifts from my patients. I thought it would be interesting to compare the two since they are so different yet made in the same environment. Both artists were patients on an inpatient psychiatric unit in a public hospital.
The image on the left was created by a woman in her late 50s who carries a diagnosis of Schizophrenia. She is nonverbal and communicates mostly through these images. I must have 20 or 30 of her drawings in my office as she is wont to giving her pictures out to various staff members. This picture was made towards the middle of her stay at the hospital. The timing is important to consider because when she first comes in (she is frequently admitted to the hospital) her drawings are very chaotic and difficult to read. As she stabilizes, her drawings become more legible and you can actually read what she is writing. I thought this one was interesting because she used two different colors, purple and green, and two different mediums, pen and marker. I don't know how to "read" this therapeutically so I'd be curious to hear feedback from you all!
The image on the right was created by a man in his 50s who carries a diagnosis of Schizoaffective Disorder. During the beginning of his stay at the hospital he was violent and unpredictable but as he began to stabilize he revealed his sweet nature. This drawing was done on his last day at the hospital. (Note: the paper in the upper left corner is covering his signature). Although I did not ask him to explain the drawing, compared to another drawing he gave me I am guessing that the building in the lower left corner represents the hospital. The perspective here is interesting. If you look at it one way it appears very flat but if you trick your eyes a bit you can see that he was trying to make it three-dimensional. The heart in the center may represent his positive feelings towards his stay. The larger heart on the right side contains the words "power" "father" "God" and i think the order of the words is interesting. The largest word is "father" and the word on the top is "power." "God" has the most space around it. I love how the tree grows out of the center of the heart's crease on top. As trees represent growth, stability, and life, it is promising that the tree extends up beyond the "hospital." To me, the birds can signify a sense of freedom and I think it is important that they, too, are flying above and beyond the building.
Does anyone else see anything interesting?
Wow, this post is really interesting. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete(I know you wrote that she is nonverbal- I'm just thinking out loud)
I'm really intrigued by the first picture. The first thing that I notice that her handwriting is very uniform, even though it's not very legible. Looking at this gives me a feeling of chaos and disorder, but at the same time, there's just a hint of reality in there. I wonder if that's something that she experiences due to her schizophrenia. I notice that there's some black pen under the green pen, and then the purple marker. I wonder if there's anything she would add if she had more time or materials- would she use more colors? add more purple?
It's also interesting that you have so many of her drawings. I wonder what it would be like for her to look over them and reflect on all of her visits to the hospital.