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About the psychological interpretation of drawing

Throughout history, the human being has evolved enormously, and this has been reflected in art. Cave paintings, for example, have been examples of expressions and communication modes developed over time.

Since childhood, we are the reflection of our environment. Drawing, especially, is a way of expressing what is lived, perceived, etc., which is why it is a source of information about the family, the school or social environment. To understand a drawing it is necessary to locate oneself in a very important factor: the cultural context of the individual. As an interesting fact, very rarely in the drawings of a child does the sexual theme appear, although it can happen in drawings of infants who have suffered some kind of sexual abuse.

Drawing, both in children and adults, is generally considered a mode of language. It is also known that the way it is drawn, as well as the evolution of the design, evolves over time, as does the psychomotor component. In fact, several psychologists affirm that everything related to the child, for example, such as his feelings, experiences, habits and others, clearly influence the progress of sign language. To better understand this idea, when a child gets angry, his traits are usually energetic, or when he does not want the existence of a close relative, his traits tend to be more rudimentary.

Generally, a child draws the sky, the sun, mountains, ships, houses. However, the drawing is not what matters most, but the vocabulary that he expresses through drawing, which reveals his perceptive process, just as it happens in adults, a process that is constantly structured since childhood.

Drawing is nothing more than a way of communicating, creating, saying something. Many people, when drawing, relieve fears or internal conflicts by expressing them and projecting them on a sheet of paper. Thus, the drawing always carries with it the way of being of the individual and their perception of the world, their fears, state of mind, desires, and psychological assessment starts from this principle. Through a drawing, an evaluator with experience and knowledge of the subject could obtain information about personality, imaginative capacity, specific conflict or psychopathological indicators that show cognitive and perceptive variations, learning difficulties, abuse, anxiety, harassment, mistreatment or depression. There are various aspects that can be observed in a drawing, which must be assessed as a whole, in order to have a better understanding and conclusions of the individual's psyche.

There are many aspects involved in the drawings. One of the most important is size. While the leaf represents the outside world, the size of the drawing communicates how the person sees himself in front of the world. From there you can determine the degree of self-esteem, vital energy, etc. If the drawing is very small, this betrays a possible feeling of low self-esteem or inferiority.

The location on the sheet of paper is also decisive. According to studies, the left side symbolizes our past, the center the present and the right the future. The upper side constitutes the mental plane and the lower the body and its impulses. Colors, on the other hand, provide information about mood and the emotional factor: the darkest are almost always related to emptiness, anguish, anxiety, loneliness; those of more warmth, on the other hand, are associated with states such as joy, stability, etc. On the other hand, the color red usually expresses aggressiveness or rage. The form is also significant, because if it is precise and clear, it means that there is a rational control and a demarcation of one's identity from the world. The opposite implies the existence of confusion and lack of rational control, as well as problems with identity.

On the other hand, the metaphorical or symbolic content. If you are facing more original symbologies, the ability to elaborate concepts is higher. If certain metaphors are perceived in the drawing, such as some natural phenomenon or element, be it a storm or dark clouds, the person, mostly children, may be expressing the transit through bad times, for example, the separation of his parents, so he will express his sadness quite possibly by drawing a collapsing house.

Finally, the strokes, which indicate the level of energy tension. If we are in the presence of firm lines, this represents security, control, assertiveness and self-confidence. Very soft or barely perceptible strokes express insecurity, mistrust and low self-esteem. Those very strong and straight strokes symbolize above all aggressiveness, and the circular ones subjugation, subordination and emotionality.

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