What I've learned

I'm not sure if I included this in the sections of assessments, but here are some things I have learned throughout the course of this class.
I definitely learned about many kinds of assessments, but through these I learned which ones coulde be appropriate for certain types of populations. You may not want to use an assessment that was mainly created for children on an adult, as they could possibly find this offensive and not take the assessment seriously. This could then greatly skew the results of the assessment, and it might not work the way that you had intended. I also learned from this class some assessment that I may want to use in the future with clients, and some that I already have. One I have that I have found very useful is the bridge drawing. This is a wonderful assessment for being able to tell where people are and where they want to go with their goals and such in therapy. Quite useful. Through this process, I have also found assessments that I do not like, such as the Ulman. Maybe it was the day we did this assessment on, but it just seemed very tedious, and I could see this going in a bad way if you wanted to give this to children.
Overall I think I have learned a great deal about a great many assessments, some I liked, some I did not, however I believe all of the information that we have gone over in class is valuable and useful toward the future, which is not quite what I had envisioned at the beginning of this class. I am glad to find out that I enjoyed this class and learning all of the assessments and accompanying information, even if it was a lot to take in so late at night. I do plan to keep looking up and looking into varying assessments that may pique my curiosity, as there is always something new to learn.

March 24 Favorite Kind of Day, Bridge Drawing Technique

Today in class we discussed the FKD and the Bridge drawing technique. As the bridge drawing technique is one that we have gone over in other classes, and have used on clients before, I found the FKD much more interesting.

The FKD is the Favorite Kind of Day drawing. It was a very relaxing assessment to do, bringing back memories of sitting poolside in Italy in the summer watching the swallows dive into the water. I think that I will almost certainly use this assessment in the future, of course with the right client. I think this could be used well in older (geriatric) patients going through the end of life phase, because they can re-live in a way good memories and times that they’ve had

As for the bridge drawing, I definitely will and have used this as a rapport builder. I’ve put this to use, but I have given some restrictions on material (as the directive in class did not). This is mainly limited to the materials I have access to. I also had the individual put themselves on the bridge, other than having them draw an arrow what direction they were going on it. This assessment, for me, ended up being very telling of how my day had been.

I enjoyed doing the FKOD after the Bridge drawing, as it put me in a better mood, and I did not have to think about the day I had, and I could think about happier times. As in my bridge drawing, there is the problem of it making the client think about something (such as my bad day) more than they would like, thus bringing up difficult things to deal with, which could be a good thing or a bad thing for the therapist and the client.

March 17 Birds Nest Drawing

This assessment (which was a lot of fun!) was created by Donna Kaiser in 1996 is used to assess attachment. It can be used with both children and adults. It is very interesting in that it has no time limit, and that you create a story to go with the picture. I think this makes it particularly different than other assessments. This is also an interesting directive because it has been used on various populations, and to me seems like you could get a pretty consistent result from all. This assessment is also very specific, dealing with attachment theory explicitly. This directive can also seem less threatening than using a family drawing, as you are not mentioning anyone specifically, but one can infer the same things from this type of directive.

Oops, I left this out the last one! for the 3rd of March

When the UPAP was done in class, I found it to be fun and relaxing, as the day had been fairly stressful. However, being in art therapy, as well as an artist, and having had a stressful day, I felt the need for more direction with the drawings, as they are fairly undirected. Of course, this is not without reason, as it is to achieve those underlying principles. I can see how this would be fairly difficult to use on children, as it is time consuming and you need a good deal of attention to complete it.

Also discussed in class was the LECATA, or the THE LEVICK EMOTIONAL AND COGNITIVE ART THERAPY ASSESSMENT, created by Myra Levick in 1986. This assessment is a cognitive art therapy assessment.

March 3 Lecata; Ulman Personality test

This article (The Conference Article) is basically about a panel of three art therapists who presented three of the most frequently used art therapy assessments for adults at the American art therapy association conference in 1998. The assessment were: UPAP (Ulman1992/1968), DDS (Cohen1988), and the PPAT (Gantt, 1990). The basics of these assessments are:

UPAP-Ulman Personality Assessment Procedure (Add Hamilton doc), Diagnostic Drawing Series, and Person Picking an Apple from a Tree. Four questions were asked of each assessment.

The Upap is a four-drawing series (the examples of mine done in class are given) with the underlying principles of a novel experience, a directed experience, a playful experience, and making a decision.

The DDS is a three-series drawing art interview, meant to help attain a diagnosis in a clinical setting using things such as graphic indicators.

The PPAT is just a one picture assessment, focusing on how people draw to assess personality.

The objectives of this presentation (and this article) at the AATA conference was to appreciate “similarities, differences, and unique qualities” in these three assessments (Cox, Agell, Cohen, Gantt, 2009).

Crit Card

For this assignment, I picked crit card number 1, about General Reaction. The piece I used it on is a picture by Chaime Soutine-of a side of beef hanging up. Unfortunately I am unable to put it up.
However, here is my Crit Card analysis of it;

general reaction
1. My first response to this painting is that it is kind-of gory but in a pretty way.
2.This work makes me feel happy, as it is closely related to my own.
3.This work makes me think of my undergraduate years, painting.
4. This work reminds me of where my father works
Description
1. In this painting I see a side of beef hanging on a hook
2.As for colors, shapes and textures I see many warm colors, as well as some angular shapes.
3. I do not see any unusual features, other than the content of the painting.
4.I also see a lot of movement in the painting-such as the tendons in the beef kind-of swirling around the page.
5.To me, much of the painting looks dark and textures in a thick fashion (the paint is laid on heavily), but this could be due to age of the painting.
6. This work, I believe, was made by the artist hanging the meat either in his studio, or going into a butcher shop to paint it.
7. There seem to be heavy brushstrokes throughout the painting, with rather thick paint.
8. The artist is viewing the meat straight on as it is hanging, as that is the perspective in the painting.
Formal Relationships/Shapes
1. bright reds and yellows seem to dominate this picture-largely because those are the natural colors in the meat.
2. There is some negative space within this painting, but it is not merely blank canvas. There is not a spot of canvas uncovered. I would not necessarily call them significant.
3.There is movement within this piece caused by the curves of the meat as well as the underlying structure and tendons in it.
4. there is a bit of contrast within this piece, caused by the dark and light shades of the colors used.
5. The figure seems to be pointing slightly upward and to the right.
6.The focus in this work is mainly in the middle, because the image of the meat is so dominant within the painting. the movement in the painting goes upward and to the right. this is the main movement-for me-however there is more caused by the lines in the ribcage and such within the painting.

These are my answers to this specific Crit Card about this painting.

February 17, 2010 Gantt (2009); Brooke articles

Since I lead this class today, I put up the facilitation sheet that I used. It may not make too much sense right now, but I am currently re-working it. I just wanted to have something up!

Give a brief overview of the art therapy assessments that we have learned so far;

KFD-Kinetic Family Drawing-Kinetic Family Drawing-(passed around symbols sheet) good to have on hand –ie already have done a genogram or have family dynamics documented

directions; draw all members of your family doing something Actions Styles and Symbols book

Looks for certain things family members position of self image distance of self in age to others size and action of figures

To observe dynamic relations in families

PPAT-Person Picking an Apple from a Tree

DDS-Dynamic Drawing Series-one of the most widely researched diagnostic instruments available to art therapists. It is not based on an interpretation of the content of drawings but on an empirical correlation between graphic characteristics and psychopathology.

Crit Cards-look at works of art and their contexts to see what they tell us about the human condition. Asks 3 main questions; what is this? What does it mean? What is it worth?

Bender-Gestalt-

• By Lauretta Bender, 1938

• One of the most used psychological tests.

• Individually administered, paper and pencil test that contains 9 geometric figures.

• Bender (1938) operated under the assumption “that the visual gestalt function is a fundamental function associated with language ability and closely associated with various functions of intelligence such as visual perception, manual motor ability, memory, temporal and spatial concepts and organization” (p. 112).B-G; Psychopath for adults and assess for kids, iq and brain damage and visual disorders,

HTP-House Tree Person; projective personality test.

Measures aspects of persons personality, can also assess brain damage or neurological functioning

KHTP-Kinetic House Tree Person; same basically but htp on same page and in action –understanding of individual and feelings, self concepts and relationships to others and things b/c they may project those feelings to object; how they relate to their environment

DAP-Draw a Person; involves figure drawings as a projection of inner feelings thoughts conflict conceptions can reflect personality features and important aspects of self concept when asked to dap-used in clinical obs for inter psych and inter personal factors

DAF-Draw a Face; 25 pages displays scenes of kids playing, faces blank purpose to obtain a measure of child's self concept on various personality dimensions ie depend vs independant, introvert to extravert

DDS-Dynamic Drawing Series-is a 3 part drawing interview

Which population(s) are most often incorporated into the research on each of the different art therapy assessments? Why? (e.g. DDS: chronically mentally ill ages 13+ why?)

Bender-Gestalt-Developmental test for children and psychopathology in adults

KFD-families dynamic relationships

PPAT-Adolescents and adults

DDS-psychopathology—kind of an everyone—or for axis etc.

HTP-kind of everyone

KHTP-“ “

DAP-more adult-based concepts

DAF-mainly children

What is meant by the description: global impressions of art & graphic equivalents of diagnostic symptoms?

Graphic equivalent of symptoms are formal structural elements within a picture, but these are considered only those symptoms listed in certain specific diagnoses in the DSM. Ie details that signal anxiety. Global variables in art were mentioned, and I believe it means common things through various works or art that can have the same or similar meanings and appearances.

Discuss the differences and similarities in the directives of the assessments that we've learned so far. Why are there these differences? (e.g. what is each directive attempting to elicit? Focus on the DDS.)

All seem variously structured, whereas DDS is has it all-structured, unstructured, and semi-structured. Others are one or the other mainly.

HTP; projective personality test.

Measures aspects of persons personality, can also assess brain damage or neurological functioning

KHTP; same basically but htp on same page and in action –understanding of individual and feelings, self concepts and relationships to others and things b/c they may project those feelings to object; how they relate to their environment

DAP; involves figure drawings as a projection of inner feelings thoughts conflict conceptions can reflect personality features and important aspects of self concept when asked to dap-used in clinical obs for inter psych and inter personal factors

KFD; family members position of self image distance of self im age to others size and action of figures

To observe dynamic relations in families

DAF; 25 pages displays scenes of kids playing, faces blank purpose to obtain a measure of childs self concept on various personality dimensions ie depend vx indep, introv to extrav

B-G; Psychopath for adults and assess for kids, iq and brain damage and visual disorders,

What differing information would the DAF, FEATS, and Anderson's Crit-Card provide over the same drawing(s)? Why?

The DAF would provide more of an individuals self-concept and personality dimensions from the drawings, whereas the

critcards would get at what is important about the drawing-such as the meaning behind it.

The FEATS would rate the global variables in art-in other words the things that are seen across a set of drawings.

In what way did this reading/ topic provoke you to take part in self-directed research, reflective art making, discussion, debate, and/or introspection? In other words what interested you/ or didn't interest you and how did you explore your interests independently?

With research into information from past notes as well as others’ notes (the ones posted…) I found it interesting that ‘recently’ they have begun using the FEATS for children and adult-non-patients. Also, that they have begun to see how it works with other assessments instead of mainly just the PPAT.