Start. Continued in.
IMPORTANT NOTE: projective tests have big problems with validity and reliability (to be honest, most of the test methods used by our psychologists have these problems). Be sure to read before ordering an interpretation. I STRONGLY DO NOT RECOMMEND USING THIS TEST FOR ANY SERIOUS DIAGNOSTIC PURPOSES, most likely, you will get outright nonsense at the level of divination on coffee grounds.
Among , there is an interpretation of projective drawing tests. And perhaps the most popular in this category is the Non-Existent Animals test set.
Such popularity is well deserved - this set is quite easy to complete and gives a lot of information.
In this post, I will show how the interpretation of the Non-Existent Animal test (as well as the Angry Animal, Happy Animal, and Unhappy Animal) test might look with a specific example.
I thank my client for granting me permission to use her materials for this post.
About the non-existent animals test
In general, it is more correct to speak of four separate tests - "Non-existent animal", "Angry animal", "Happy animal" and "Unhappy animal".
The first of them is the main one and can be used separately, while the subsequent ones are considered as additional in relation to it.
For the first time, the "Non-existent animal" test was proposed by M.Z. Dukarevich, then it was refined and tested for many years. Personally, when conducting and interpreting this test, I use the methodological instructions of A. L. Wenger.
The theory behind this (and other tests under consideration) can be stated quite simply: these tests are projective, i.e. in the process of their implementation, the subject in a certain way projects (i.e. brings out) some features of his own inner world.
These features and properties appear in encrypted form, in the form of images and symbols, and the task of the interpreter is to decipher them.
I am often asked about the reliability of these tests and projective methods in general. Let me quote here a few quotes from Wenger:
« Of course, drawing methods are not without drawbacks. The main one is the relatively low reliability of the results obtained due to the subjectivity of the interpretation. Unlike more formalized tests, such as intelligence tests or personality questionnaires, drawing tests, as a rule, do not allow quantitative measurement of the estimated mental properties. The terms in which the pictures are interpreted are usually devoid of the rigor and unambiguity that is typical for formalized tests. Because of this, it is difficult to scientifically confirm the reliability and validity of drawing techniques.
<…>
The proposed method for the analysis of drawing tests can be characterized as sequential hypotheses and their testing. The general impression of the drawing and its most characteristic features serve as the basis for putting forward the first series of hypotheses. The involvement of each new indicator contained in the figure leads to the confirmation or rejection of a particular hypothesis. In this procedure, many other data act on the same rights as test indicators: the results of observations of the subject, his statements, the psychologist's information about the circumstances of his life, behavioral characteristics, relationships with other people, etc.
This interpretation procedure is not typical for test methods. It is more in line with the traditional approach to the analysis of clinical material. This shows the duality of drawing techniques: they occupy an intermediate position between test and clinical methods. »
It should be said that all the methods I use have been validated and tested.
How does this happen? Very simply: a group of people with known mental illnesses and life circumstances is taken. For example, let's imagine that in this group we will have schizophrenics, hysteroids, narcissists, psychopaths and depressive patients.
After the sample is made, the subjects are given the task to draw something. For example, a non-existent animal. Then they take drawings, make a formalized description and carry out statistical processing. If patterns can be found (for example, “psychopaths draw fangs and claws”), then a hypothesis is put forward that this pattern has diagnostic significance. If yes (i.e., the absolute majority of psychopaths drew fanged-clawed animals, while no one but them drew this), then the hypothesis is accepted and proceed to the second stage.
At the second stage, another group of people is assembled, about whom nothing is known in advance. These people are given the same task, after which the hypotheses discovered at the first stage are tested. To expand on our example, those who drew an animal with fangs and claws are tested (using other methods) for the presence of psychopathic. And if it matches again, i.e. most of those who drew these elements really turn out to be psychopaths, then the hypothesis is considered tested and valid. And, accordingly, they continue to apply.
As you can see, no shamanism, esotericism and other anti-scientific dregs, everything is quite within the framework of the scientific approach.
Another thing is that the very criteria for evaluating the elements of a drawing are quite subjective (for example, “negligence” or “general unfavorable impression”), which allows the occurrence of interpreter errors.
And so that my readers and customers can evaluate how well I personally cope with the interpretation of such tests, I post an example within this article (of course, with the permission of the subject).
IMPORTANT NOTE : if you want to take tests from the "Non-existent animals" group, DO NOT READ TEXT UNDER SPOILERS BEFORE YOU FINISH DRAWING! The fact is that this hidden text contains indications of specific diagnostic signs, and if you know them, then your unconscious can greatly distort the results.
IF YOU FIRST READ THE TEXT UNDER THE SPOILERS AND THEN DRAWED THE ANIMALS, THEN YOUR RESULTS ARE INCORRECT AND SHOULD NOT BE INTERPRETATION.
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And once again, for those who have developed banner blindness: please do not read the text under the spoilers before you finish drawing. If you read first and then start drawing, the test will show garbage that has little to do with reality. Thanks.
What can be learned with this test
It is quite logical that the future customer wants to know what kind of information he can get by passing this test. Well, let's try to answer this question.
The first thing to be said here is that we cannot predict in advance how informative his drawing will be. It depends on a huge number of factors, the influence of which at the time of the survey remains unknown.
So, for example, some subjects have problems in the sexual sphere (up to pointing out specific perversions), while others do not contain information about this area of their personality in the drawings.
But in general, it is possible to single out a certain set of information clusters, the appearance of which is quite justified to expect in the test results:
1. The level of general mental development;
2. The predominance of a rational or emotional approach to reality;
3. The level of psychomotor tone, increased or decreased activity, asthenia;
4. Lack of self-control and action planning, impulsiveness;
5. Increased emotional lability or, on the contrary, rigidity;
6. Anxiety (as a personality trait) and anxiety (as a state at the time of the examination);
7. Fears;
8. Depressive tendencies;
9. Features of reaction to stress;
10. Aggressiveness (with the ability to differentiate its forms such as physical and verbal aggression, defensive aggression, neurotic aggression);
11. Extraversion or, on the contrary, introversion;
12. Demonstration;
13. Dissatisfaction with the need for communication;
14. Autization, avoidance of communication;
15. The degree of socialization and conformity;
16. Antisocial tendencies;
17. Attitude towards the sexual sphere;
18. Attitude towards the family sphere as a whole and towards individual family members (rarely manifested).
Now let's move on to a specific example.
Information about the subject
Gender Female;
. Age: 26 years;
. Family status: Married;
Test procedure
Testing was carried out in absentia. The subject was given standard instructions for completing the tasks: "Non-existent animal", "Angry animal", "Happy animal" and "Unhappy animal".
Significant facts that emerged during the assignment:
1. A large number of clarifying questions;
2. Attempts to complete the task not according to the instructions (questions about the use of colored pencils);
3. Long time to complete tasks;
4. Violation of the order of tasks.
Non-existent animal - Drebyerji
This task is emotionally neutral and shows those personal characteristics of the subject, which manifest themselves in her in the absence of external and internal stress, i.e. it shows the characteristics of the subject in a calm state, when nothing causes any certain strong emotions in her.
Information about Drabyerji from the words of the subject (spelling and punctuation preserved)
"Any animal. Draberi.
It is an esthete and a gourmet. With a minimal need for communication, which can be explained by the natural presence of 3 heads, 3 different characters and personalities that get along well in one organism.
Heads, whose description is very superficial:
1) calm disposition, logical thinking, evaluation of events in relation to one's own value system
2) noisy, talkative, expressive, daring, sympathetic with his personality and charisma
3) a lover of winning, but appreciates close ties; ready to give in if it's important to others
The organism as such is very chaotic, the organs in it wander and the shape of the body is flowing. The lower and upper limbs are absent. The mouth sometimes serves as a substitute for the function of the hands.
When hunting, they envelop the victim. Since the organism itself is black in color and with a smell that is not accepted by animals as coming from a living dangerous organism, it is possible to successfully get close to the victims in 99.8% of cases. The size of the body also lends itself to transformation in length and width, but the heads do not change their stable shape.
Hunting for him is not only a way of subsistence, but also one of his favorite pastimes. He devours animals unprecedented on Earth, preferably while they are still fighting in agony and the warmth of the body is kept.
He lives alone in a large, elegant palace with a garden where there is a pond with toads. Which he paints in different bright colors, because their real color is too boring. Toads are his best friends, but they don't share this opinion. There are also servants in his palace, but he does not consider them to be people, he treats them as shadows or decorations. The gloomy appearance of the palace and its inhabitants gave rise to the creation of unprecedented myths and tales, it is not surprising that the locals shy away from it.
Despite the fact that it is surrounded by other people, the action takes place not on Earth, on another distant planet. There they live together with other creatures unknown to us.
It does absolutely everything that comes to mind. Of course, sometimes there are disputes about the primacy in the implementation of the desired. In this case, the heads guess the numbers and the winner is the one who first guesses the guess of any of the other 2 heads.
Their favorite joint activities: watching bloody films, causing a pleasant outburst of emotions inside; enjoyment of listening to music - they are all selective music lovers; drawing joint pictures and decorating toads, of course. The brush is held in the mouth; reading books written by beings other than humans; and reasoning about experiences.
The range of their emotions strongly resembles that of a human. But so far, none of the events has caused them to release emotions that contribute to the generation of corresponding traumas: their entire lifestyle is filled with events that cause them excitement, delight and an incentive to dig deeper and further on the topic. A lot of things can amaze him: the unique beauty of animals and forests; castle architecture; pond depth; the smallest barely perceptible sounds; even facial expressions and appearance of people; drowning in a look that, at times, is more beautiful than the surrounding world; the color of blood, its spray, sprinkled on the ground; fear of the last breath of an animal clinging to life; the ability to create, search, find, choose, build paths; the darkness of the night and the hooting of winged creatures; vocals capable of expressing even more than a look; and the infinity of the imaginary world..
Although it is an aesthete, it itself is practically incapable of creating anything, and deep down this makes it very sad. So deep that it does not cause conscious experiences. It so happened that it was born a connoisseur, without the presence of special talents.
This creature has one secret - each of the heads can separate from the common organism along with part of its constituent matter and become a separate full-fledged organism, but only one of them knows about this, and she prefers to hide this possibility from the rest.
It never aspired to become separate organisms. He accepts his existence as a given, only surrounding himself with what causes emotional thrill inside and is of value, but not material. On any given day, it is ready to abandon the castle and go on an unknown journey without a goal, the meaning of which would itself manifest itself later. "
Interpretation
1. H the presence of multidirectional trends(three heads). IN this case it can be said that the subject has some internal conflict(which, in fact, is the source of this contradiction), but he is repressed deep into the unconscious and is suppressed by powerful compensatory mechanisms (the heads do not contradict, but complement each other).
In addition, the presence of several heads in this case indicates some theatricality of behavior, the tendency to constantly play a role, i.e. certain demonstrativeness. Since demonstrativeness in this form is quite rarely realized, we can conclude that there is enough high level of awareness and good abilities of the subject to self-knowledge.
Such demonstrativeness, in combination with other characteristics of the picture, indicates infantility the subject (which is confirmed by the data of the SMIL methodology).
2. introversion(the animal does not have arms or their analogue), while the subject maintains a limited number of contacts with selected partners (it can be assumed that there are 5-6 of them according to the number of outgrowths of the animal's shell, and the connection with one of them is questionable for the subject herself);
3. Schizoid accentuation(the sketchiness of the image of the animal, the formality of the compiled name, a small number of pictorial details as opposed to a rather voluminous description). In this case, this emphasis does not go beyond the psychological norm she is a source of pretty high creative abilities subject and its obvious originality, but does not take pathological forms (according to this technique)
The hypothesis of schizoid accentuation is also confirmed by the indication that this animal is an aesthete and its love for bloody spectacles, as well as by the method of nutrition associated with the torment of the victim.
It should be noted that in this case this does not indicate the sadistic inclinations of the subject, since for schizoids such features are not something that goes beyond the norm.
Here one can make an assumption about lack of empathy of the subject, but for its final acceptance it is necessary to conduct additional studies using other methods;
4. Asthenia, propensity to autism(lack of pupils in one of the heads). A characteristic feature is that the subject associates asthenia and autism with the first head, which, in fact, personifies a reasonable approach to the world.
This indicates the importance of such psychological defense mechanisms as intellectualization And rationalization in the functioning of the psyche of the subject. With the help of these mechanisms, she is able to cope with negative experiences, transferring them from an emotional level that is uncomfortable for the subject to a rational level, where a developed intellect can process them. These defenses are mature and their active use indicates a high (no less than neurotic) level of the subject's personal organization, which excludes the presence of a serious mental pathology at the time of the examination.
However, in the same mechanisms, the subject’s weakness is also manifested, lack of contact with one's emotional state, fenced off from this sphere of one's inner world deprives the subject of strength and reduces her productivity. It is not for nothing that asthenia is most clearly associated with the head that most effectively suppresses emotions. The subject is not knows how to use his own emotions as a source of creative transformative forces;
5. The subject's fears(blackened pupils in the eyes of two heads). And again, fears are associated with those heads that are more emotional, which indicates, on the one hand, alienation of the subject from his own emotional sphere, and, on the other hand, that the reason for this alienation is that, at a deep level, the subject herself is afraid of her emotions.
Perhaps this is due to the fear of losing control, but it is more likely that this is a simple consequence of schizoid accentuation, which is generally characterized by some alienation of the emotional sphere;
6. Infantilism And negativism(protruding tongue near head #2). It can be assumed that in the process of her development, the subject learned to use her infantilism as a mechanism of social adaptation and protection(like “I’m small, don’t touch me”), and now this infantilism is an element necessary for the functioning of the personality, with the help of which the subject simplifies the subjectively difficult task of interacting with others.
It should be noted that this mechanism can be quite effective, and the people who use it can make a very favorable impression and seem quite "nice";
7. autism(an indication that the animal has three heads, an indication that the heads do not need anyone, that their needs are fully satisfied within the being itself). At the same time, as a typical schizoid, the subject has an internal conflict about closeness-distance(especially expressed in other drawings): she yearns for others, but unconsciously fears being swallowed up by them, and tries to resolve it in favor of distance.
The strength of this position lies in the fact that with the help of this solution, the subject acquires greater independence and independence from others. Weakness is manifested in the fact that, refusing to approach others, the subject deprives itself of the ability to meet some needs, which can only be satisfied in social interaction (including such a basic need as the need for acceptance and belonging).
8. General immaturity And weak structure of the inner world(indication of the randomness of the structure of the body and the mobility of internal organs). On the one hand, this gives the subject a certain flexibility (and, probably, this is precisely the basis for maintaining such an organization), on the other hand, it indicates her immaturity.
9. Lack of emotional contact or their severe limitation (an indication of the invisibility of the animal when hunting, its lack of smell). This hypothesis is also confirmed by the structure of the animal's body (see paragraph 2), but here it acquires a significant addition: even with these few partners there is no real emotional intimacy. Again, on the one hand, such a strategy of behavior protects the subject from emotional shocks, and, on the other hand, limits her development potential.
Superficiality and formality of contacts confirmed by the place of residence of the animal, and its relationship with toads. Probably, the subject does not have really close people in her life, which may be due to early childhood psychotrauma caused by rejection and rejection by parents (or persons replacing them);
10. A penchant for fantasy(including defensive fantasizing), supported high level of intellectual and creative abilities(coloring toads in bright colors, the presence of myths associated with the place of residence of the animal);
11. Lack of communication, feeling of loneliness(the creature's place of residence is another planet). Taking into account the information presented in paragraph 7, we can say that this feeling is a logical consequence of the behavior of the subject, however, it is felt painfully and is not accepted as a necessary consequence. decision in proximity-distance conflict.
In general, this situation is typical for schizoids. The opposite could be the fear of absorption and dissolution in others, but the subject preferred this option.
This feeling could be overcome by realizing a deep, emotionally significant contact with another person, but the subject's fear of entering into such contact is too great.
12. A propensity to reason, reasoning(description of decision-making by the heads), characteristic of schizoids, is supplemented stuck on small parts characteristic of anxious individuals.
13. Alienation from the emotional component of the inner world partially offset by the occurrence exalted states or even hypomania(description of what can delight the animal). This is a favorable prognostic sign: with an adequate psychotherapeutic effect, the subject's mood (which is likely to be characterized by sudden changes) can be stabilized without serious pharmacological interventions.
14. Doubt about your own creativity(the animal is not able to create anything). The subject is so afraid of the emotional sphere, alienates it so much that it is easier for her to lower her own self-esteem, recognizing her “own incapacity and mediocrity” than to turn to her emotions, accept them and get powerful nourishment from them for her creative abilities. Here we are talking about intellectual emasculation, and not about the true limitations of thinking.
15. Internal conflict, despite the fact that it is pushed out quite deeply, is pretty strong. Most likely, it is he who is the source of fear that the subject is afraid of, she cannot afford to look at this conflict and prefers to experience all the inconveniences and restrictions associated with the rejection of the emotional sphere than to see it. It has tremendous power, which in the future can become the basis for the development of adverse mental processes and even lead to illness (heads can come out and separate).
16. Low importance of the sphere of material well-being(the animal does not have "legs" or elements replacing them, a direct indication of this fact in the description). Most of the actual needs of the subject are of an "existential", aesthetic and social nature.
17. High level of creativity(the animal is built according to the original scheme and is accompanied by a detailed highly artistic story).
Lucky Animal - Pikki
This task is emotionally loaded, it shows those aspects of the subject's personality that in one way or another are associated with her state of happiness - they favor the acquisition of this state or hinder it.
Information about Pikki from the words of the subject (spelling and punctuation preserved)
"The happiest animal. Picky.
This furry beast is about the height of a human kneecap. The habitat is our world, only rarely anyone succeeds in meeting it. Pikki is a herbivore. Most of all he likes to gnaw leaves from trees. Moves by jumping. The tail is similar to the flagellum of the green euglena, but it is necessary for balance. There is a blush on his cheeks, and in the center of his stomach is a symbol of happiness (he is the generator of happiness).
It is worth noting that Pikki does not know how to be sad, but happiness produces in excess and he himself does not need so much. Happiness is impossible without understanding the other side - pain. He is aware of this inevitable part of existence, but he himself does not experience this - he is immune from suffering, which is also associated with the absence of enemies and fears. His life is guided by non-random events and meetings, so he always has something to do, he just fulfills his true destiny. Others are always welcome. At the first meeting - surprised.
He comes at night to the houses of unfortunate people, he always draws a sign similar to the one on their stomach on the wall and waits for people to wake up, and they always wake up at night. He bestows them with happiness, and the sign on the wall remains forever a reminder of his humble visit. Maybe one day he will visit you too.
*Stars in the background mean a non-painful exaltation"
Interpretation
1. A good mood or hypomanic episode at the time of the start of the examination (this animal, contrary to the instructions, was drawn first). The probable reason for choosing this particular task as the first one is that the subject wanted to reduce the level of fear from confronting her own emotionality, and unconsciously chose the most favorable and safe version of the task;
2. introversion, the lack of frustration of the need for communication, it simply does not exist in a strongly pronounced form (a happy animal does not have hands or their analogues, it is difficult to access). The subject is not aware of and does not experience on a conscious level the need to increase the number of contacts.
This somewhat contradicts the presence of her needs, which can only be satisfied within the framework of social interactions (see descriptions of other animals). The explanation for this contradiction can be found in the fact that, probably, some of the existing contacts are difficult for the subject, and she would like to get rid of them.
On the other hand, perhaps she is inclined to intellectualize and rationalize the need for contacts (this is clearly indicated by the presence of evidence of such a need in the text - see paragraph 10 - and its absence in the image);
3. Unconscious fears(blackened animal eyes). They are more pronounced in the "ordinary" animal, but they remain in the happy one. This indicates that one of the necessary criteria for happiness for the subject is a decrease in the strength of fears.
This situation is typical for anxious personalities. Together with the data obtained from the analysis of other animals, it can be assumed that the subject was initially a very sensitive (sensitive) child, and schizoid accentuation was formed later, as a compensatory mechanism.
4. About what to achieving a sense of psychological comfort requires placement in a more friendly environment the ears of a happy animal also speak (the ears are a symbol of alertness, but here they are folded, there is no need to be afraid). Again, a typical situation for anxious personalities- the desire to get into a safe and predictable environment;
5. A happy animal is the first (the second is unhappy) that has pronounced sexual symbols (tail and underlined, drawn with pressure mouth), but in this case we are not talking about active sexuality (the tail is thin and lowered down), but rather about accepting your gender identity. In other words, the subject would like to better integrate with her gender, the disunity between the biological sex and its psychological self-representation is the source of discomfort for the test subject.
6. Often states of happiness and elation / exaltation are for the subject not a true reflection of her inner world, but compensatory mechanism designed to cope with anxiety (the stars in the figure, filling the entire sheet);
7. The Need for Security(wool is pressed to the body in a happy animal);
8. Tall but unsatisfied the need to accept one's own body(a happy animal has a “symbol of happiness” on its stomach). Perhaps the subject is trying (or planning) to satisfy her through body modifications(tattoos, piercings, provocative and unusual hairstyles, clothes).
A deeper explanation may be a reference to the fact that schizoids tend to oppose the mind to emotions, referring the latter rather to the bodily level. Thus, perhaps in this pattern on the stomach, the need for the integration of the emotional sphere was symbolically manifested.
9. Strong unmet need for acceptance and belonging(a happy animal is built according to the standard scheme). What is interesting here is that the unfortunate animal is also built according to the standard scheme, while the “ordinary” animal is built according to the original one.
Probably, the following situation takes place here: the subject feels a certain discomfort from her otherness (and this resulted in the construction of an indifferent animal according to the standard scheme), while wishing to become more “normal”, similar to the rest (which led to the creation of a happy animal according to the standard scheme). );
10. The need for acceptance and contact with others(the animal lives in our world and actively interacts with others);
11. Availability is possible hypomanic episodes(an indication that the animal produces an excess of happiness that it does not need so much). This assumption is confirmed by the data obtained using the SMIL technique;
12. Possible indication of the presence affective disorder like bipolar disorder or cyclothymia (happiness is impossible without understanding the other side). Periods of exaltation, which the subject no doubt experiences, seem to alternate with periods of melancholy and decline;
13. Existential need for meaning in life(the animal is guided by “non-random events and meetings”, it “fulfills its destiny”), which is an indicator infantilism and immaturity of the subject (such a need is more typical for adolescence);
14. Need for acceptance(others are always happy with this animal). One of the main areas of work with the subject should be the explanation that part of the needs can be realized only in social interactions. For example, if you don't connect with others, they won't be able to treat you well.
Continued in
It is hardly possible to make any consistent classification of non-existent animals. However, there are a few common ways to perform the test that are useful to be familiar with. The most primitive version is an image of a real-life animal, accompanied by a description of its natural way of life. So, twelve-year-old Liliana T. portrayed a crocodile as a non-existent animal (Fig. 68). The drawing has the following description: “The crocodile is a waterfowl, it can move both on land and in water. Eats exclusively meat. Grabs its prey and drags it underwater. The body will lie there until it begins to decompose, and then eat it. Eats people. He mainly eats those people who are very afraid of him and run away from him.
This way of completing the task is contrary to the instructions, so the inspector asked Liliana to come up with another animal, and the requirement was emphasized that it be an animal that does not actually exist. After some thought, Liliana drew a cobra. It turned out that she was unable to follow the instructions.
The image of a real animal instead of an imaginary one is normal for preschool age, although with a good level of development, even a preschooler is able to at least give his animal a non-standard name. At an older age, this is evidence especially low level development of the imagination. This type of assignment is often found in mental retardation or when learning disabilities(delay mental development).
In some cases, the reason for the deviation from the instructions is not so much a lag in the cognitive sphere, but a very high anxiety. It is difficult for an anxious person to perform vague tasks. Not understanding what the criteria for evaluating such a task are, he expects a deliberately negative evaluation in advance, which can completely block meaningful activity. Drawing an existing animal is in some ways safer than inventing something new. Therefore, an anxious person simplifies the task for himself, in fact, replacing the unusual task assigned to him with a more familiar one.
Liliana simultaneously manifests the action of both causes that block the imagination. First, according to the data of cognitive tests, she has a learning disability. Secondly, the level of anxiety is increased. This is evidenced by both the shading of the drawing and the theme of fears, which dominates the description of the animal's way of life.
A slightly higher level of task completion, but also in violation of the instructions - this is the image extinct animal, for example, a dinosaur, or an animal that does not exist in nature , and in culture: Pegasus, dragon, centaur, mermaid. So, eleven-year-old Senya V. drew a three-headed snake, the lifestyle of which is quite consistent with the fabulous snake-gorynych (Fig. 69).
This task is normal for children up to 8-9 years old. Later, it indicates a poor imagination and a low general cultural level (often with pedagogical neglect) or a learning disability (mental retardation). In this case, a learning disability was diagnosed.
The most common way to complete the task is to depict an animal that does not match any of the real ones, but built according to the standard model: horizontal body, head with eyes and mouth, limbs (legs, tentacles, arms, wings). Additional details are possible - ears, nose, neck, fins, trunk and other parts of the body of ordinary animals. Among such animals, two types are distinguished: composite and holistic.
Composite animal is built from parts of different real animals. So built, in particular, winged fish (see Fig. 76) and an animal composed of a man, dog, horse and cat (see Fig. 71). The names of such animals usually more or less fully reflect their structure. In particular, an animal in which there are elements of a human and a dog is called "chelsa" (human + dog).
Inventing and depicting composite animals is characteristic of people with a rationalistic approach to the task, with low creativity, performing rather than creative. This attitude is most typical at the beginning of primary school age (up to about eight years old), but it does not represent a deviation from the norm even in adults. With a rationalistic way of creating an image, the assessment of the level of imagination is determined by the number of prototypes and the degree of their heterogeneity. Thus, a combination of four animals (see Fig. 71) is, of course, a more complex invention than a winged fish (Fig. 76). The same fish would be more original if it were equipped not with wings, but, for example, with hare ears. A complete non-existent animal is also built in accordance with the general scheme of the animal, but without involving the body parts of specific animals, although the result may resemble a dragon, a heffalump, a dog, or something else. The name in this case does not include indications of prototypes. Examples of such animals are bumbuborusus (see Fig. 72) and rav (see Fig. 83)
This type of image is typical for artistic and emotional approach to the creative task. The less a created animal resembles something that really exists (in nature or in culture), the higher the level of imagination is assessed.
A special group is anthropoid animals. Their torso is located vertically, at the bottom - legs, on top - head, from the sides - arms (instead of arms or legs, there may be wings or tentacles). It is possible to increase the number of arms or legs, the inclusion of additional organs. A humanoid animal can be called a robot or a cyborg (see Fig. 75), it can resemble a trait (see Fig. 113), it can be declared an alien, etc. The image of such animals is typical for high need for communication. In particular, it is especially typical for adolescence, when the need for communication is greatest.
Much less common are images of non-existent animals, which are essentially mechanical structures or include separate mechanical parts. Examples are the Martian (see fig. 86) and the strange animal that serves as a home for people (see fig. 87). Such images are typical for non-conformal people with a peculiar way of thinking and a non-standard approach to the world and life, with a low level of socialization. Often these are people with schizoid accentuation, with difficulties in the field of communication.
And finally, some people have animals built according to the original model that does not correspond to either an animal, or a person, or technical structures. These models can be very complex and intricate: a multi-head (see Fig. 84), an aura (see Fig. 73), or they can be extremely simple (see Fig. 80). This method speaks of the creative warehouse of the individual. It is possible both with a predominantly rationalistic and a predominantly artistic approach to reality, if only a person has real creative possibilities. In children younger than 9-10 years old, this way of building an image is quite rare. With a creative approach to the task, the level of imagination is assessed by the degree of naturalness of the resulting creature and, in particular, by the degree of correspondence between its appearance and the description of the way of life.
The most non-standard animals provided with unusual organs or in general organless, often found in people with schizoid accentuation.
If the image is too pretentious, then usually this indicates not so much about creativity and originality, but about the desire to demonstrate to others one's dissimilarity to others, that is, originality.
Emotional Features
DEPRESSION, REDUCED MOODIn the drawing of a non-existent animal, as well as in other drawing tests (in particular, in the drawing of a person), depressive tendencies often manifest themselves in the reduction of the size of the image, sometimes in its placement in the corner of the sheet. In addition, they are usually expressively reflected in the story of the animal's lifestyle. In this regard, the examination materials of eight-year-old Yulia Sh. are extremely indicative (Fig. 70).
Julia depicted a small animal, separated from the outside world by the walls of a cave. Inside, she wrote the word "cave" so that everyone could understand what exactly was depicted. When asked what kind of animal it was, Yulia replied: “Drace-sha. This is such a snake, which has a body like a snake, and human legs. The following dialogue followed:
How does the drachesa live?
Sad.
Because her mom and dad are gone.
How did they disappear?
They said they would go to a friend and stay there for an hour, and did not say which friend. And the drachesha already went around all her friends and did not find them.
How long ago did they leave?
No, a month ago.
What is she doing now?
Basking in the sun.
Does she have friends or not?
There is one girlfriend, a girl. And she doesn't bite her because she's sad because her mom and dad are gone.
To the question of what three of her desires the drachesa would ask to be fulfilled, Yulia replied: “For mom and dad to return.” She couldn't think of the other two wishes.
In the story, as well as in the drawing itself, a depressive mood background appears ("lives sadly"). The lack of communication with parents, the feeling of loneliness (in the drawing it manifested itself in the fact that the animal is closed in a cave), the need for emotional warmth (“drachesa ... basking in the sun”) are clearly expressed.
Yulia's parents asked for psychological counseling due to the fact that the girl is very withdrawn, has no friends, does not communicate with anyone at school. In my mother's words, kindergarten Julia normally communicated with children, she was shy, but not closed. Parents assumed that the reason for the difficulties was the admission to school (at the time of the survey, the girl was in the second grade). However, a psychological examination, which included, along with drawing tests, a number of other methods, showed that the main initial reason was to a greater extent a decrease in communication with her mother, who had not worked before, but about the same time Yulia entered school, she began to work (the parents themselves did not attach sufficient values). Thus, the girl's adaptation to school took place in unfavorable conditions, with a decrease in contacts with her parents. The result was a depressive state and, as a result, passivity, avoidance of communication with peers. Parents were given recommendations aimed primarily at intensifying their communication with Yulia. Follow-up data obtained six months later confirmed the positive impact of the restructuring of family relationships on the psychological state of the girl and on her contacts with peers. At the same time, communication difficulties, although reduced, did not completely disappear.
ANXIETY, EMOTIONAL INTENSITYAt increased level of anxiety the general features of the drawing of a non-existent animal are the same as the drawing of a person. These are multiple lines, erasing and correcting lines, a specific dashed line, shading a picture, increasing its size. However, in the "Non-existent animal" technique, the drawing can be considered enlarged only if it occupies the entire sheet (Fig. 71). In addition to the increased size, multiple lines and corrections are also pronounced in Ilya's drawing.
The name of this animal - chelsa - is an abbreviation for the words "man" and "dog", although parts of other animals were also used in its construction. As Ilya explained, a chelsa is a mixture of a human, a dog, a horse and a cat. In a story about the animal's lifestyle, he said that it is "a mutation that is very hard to live with. It is very difficult to survive surrounded by ordinary people and animals.” When asked about what this animal is doing, Ilya replied: “Trying to calm down (that is, reconcile with each other) his neighbors on his back.” Greens, fruits and vegetables were named as food, Greenland as a place of life.
Chelsa has no friends, but there are enemies, "because this animal is unusual, it has not been seen anywhere, so other animals that live on this island are afraid of it." Chelsa's three wishes: "the first is not to be feared, the second is to let the neighbors off their backs, and the third is to be something ordinary."
A description of the complaints with which Ilya was brought in for a consultation and the conclusions drawn from the drawing of a person is given in the previous chapter (see the analysis of Fig. 60). The main conclusions are fully confirmed by the drawing of a non-existent animal. The story about his lifestyle contains themes that are typical for people with communication disorders: remote and deserted place of life(Greenland), lack of friends. Other places of life often chosen for their animals by people with communication disorders can be named such as “in a cave”, “underground”, “bare rocks”, “on the moon”, “on another planet”, “in space”. An indication that people around are afraid of this animal common in anxious people fearful of communication. As a result of the projection mechanism, one's own fear is attributed to others.
An important indicator is how the subject defines the main occupation of the animal: attempts to “calm down (i.e., reconcile) their neighbors on the back”, as well as the desire to “let the neighbors off the back”. Image an animal with several heads that quarrel among themselves, typical for people experiencing acute internal conflict. It can be assumed that in this case, one of the central sources of conflict is the contradiction between the desire for communication and the fear of communication.
underlining oddities animal, its dissimilarity to the rest, and especially desire to become normal typical of people who consider themselves different from those around them,"wrong", not what they should be. This feeling is often found with high anxiety, in a neurotic state, with severe communication disorders.
In Ilya's drawing, a tense attitude towards the sexual sphere was also manifested, although not as clearly and concretely as in his own drawing of a man. Powerful, detailed tail up,- it's a classic sexual symbol. When it is depicted, signs of anxiety are much more pronounced than in other parts of the drawing: multiple lines, shading, corrections, which indicates the special load of the corresponding sphere.
With especially strong anxiety, high emotional tension, images often appear that do not fit on the sheet or are literally “squeezed” into its space (Fig. 72). Except very big size animal, anxiety and emotional tension were manifested in hatching with strong pressure (blackening out part of the drawing). The story about the animal, written by Avadya, is extremely short: “This animal is called: bumbuborususu. It lives in the clouds. Feeds on nails.
The illogicality in the description of the animal's lifestyle is noteworthy: where can nails in the clouds come from? Lifestyle also contradicts appearance animal. It is devoid of wings and is clearly not adapted to life in the clouds.
Logical contradictions in the description of the animal's way of life are frequent, both in cognitive impairment, so in acute neurotic or psychotic state. In this case, there are numerous additional signs of an acute condition, while no other signs of cognitive impairment are observed. In particular, both the species and the name of the animal are quite original and, at the same time, it is quite clearly built on the model of real animals. Thus, the most likely assumption is that Avadya is in an acute state - most likely neurotic. Violations are not so gross that there are sufficient grounds for suggesting a psychotic state.
Instructions for eating things that are known to be inedible(nails, stones, glass, metal, etc.) is typical for gross violations of communication. It can be assumed that in this case, communication disorders are caused by the boy's acute condition.
In the drawing of a non-existent animal, made according to the original model, increased anxiety often reflected in too many sense organs. An anxious person is himself heightenedly sensitive to possible dangers and therefore endows his creatures with heightened sensitivity. The theme of high sensitivity (very acute hearing, keen sense of smell, exceptionally good eyesight) is often heard in the story of the animal's lifestyle.
The drawing of thirteen-year-old Nelya R. was created according to the original model (Fig. 73). Her animal does not look like ordinary or fairy-tale animals, nor does it look like a person, nor does it look like a mechanical structure. Without a special explanation, it would be difficult to understand where this animal has what.
Nelya explains that the top of the animal, which she called an aura, has a mouth. The two parallel lines in the middle of the body are the ears. In the lower part of the body there is a rectangular eye with teeth-eyelashes. Circles and triangles scattered throughout the body are different sense organs (there is no more specific definition). Below is a "candle-plane", with its help it flies.
Nelya gave the following description of her animal: “He is neither good nor bad. It flows. Inside it is a liquid. She flows - and he moves. It lives both in water and in the air. Can fly. Eats fish. May swell and take up a lot of space. You can catch him and close the hole with him. It closes like a stone. And when the stone is not in the world, it will still be - in a million years. You just have to cut off the candle, otherwise it will fly away. He didn't do anything wrong to anyone. And he didn't do anything good either. It can close the ozone hole."
The description shows disturbing general concerns: reasoning about the ozone hole, about the fact that someday there will not even be a stone in the world. Such reasoning is typical of anxious people prone to intrusive thoughts("mental chewing gum"). Apparently, Nely's inner world is not particularly clearly organized. Her animal is practically devoid of structure, the sense organs are randomly scattered throughout the body, "inside it is a liquid" (i.e., an amorphous, unstructured environment), the movement is just as indefinite ("flowing"). Low structuring of the inner world is common with high anxiety. An anxious person sees a possible threat in everything, which makes it difficult for him to distinguish between the main and the secondary.
This animal acts as a passive object of influence (“you can catch it and close the hole with it”). This is probably a direct projection of one's own self-perception.
Obsessively repetitive reasoning on the moral and ethical theme (“neither bad nor good”, “did nothing good or bad”) testify to its high significance for the girl. Such reasoning is typical insufficiently socialized, poorly adapted people, especially in adolescence and youth. With good social adaptation, such reasoning is not actualized, since social reality is perceived as quite understandable, and moral norms as self-evident. ABOUT low conformity, usually combined with insufficient socialization and communication difficulties, speaks and extraordinary originality animal.
Nelya was brought in for a consultation with a complaint that she was very worried before any responsible work. She tries to perfect everything she does (perfectionism), and because of this, she usually does not have time to finish the work. According to her parents, the girl has no girlfriends. Paparas said that when he asked why she was not friends with anyone, Nelya answered him: “I’m afraid that they will leave me” (she used to have three friends with whom she had to leave due to the family moving). The psychological examination data showed that the main reason for the difficulties is Nely's specific personality: schizoid accentuation (within the psychological norm) combined with a high level of anxiety. Disturbances in communication and social adaptation are a common consequence of schizoid accentuation. The girl was recommended psychotherapy. Her high intellectual level and propensity for introspection make the application of cognitive therapy methods very promising.
EMOTIONAL LABILITY
In the drawing of a non-existent animal, the main signs of high emotional lability, as in the drawing of a person, these are significant fluctuations in the force of pressure on the pencil, the degree of detail and accuracy of the image (Fig. 74).
Marina named her animal koshilop. He has a large ear "to listen, to beware of enemies." He lives in space, alone. Feeds on the stars. He has neither friends nor enemies. Most of all he likes to lie somewhere, and most of all he is afraid of the earth. As explained
Marina, "he was not on it, but he feels that she should be afraid." He has only one desire: "To keep everything as it is."
A comparison of this drawing with Marina's drawing of a person (see analysis of Fig. 32) shows that communication problems appeared in both tests (the animal lives in space, alone, feeds on apparently inedible stars; empty eyes without irises and pupils indicate possible autism). In the drawing of a non-existent animal, anxiety, fear of change (the desire “for everything to remain as it is”), emotional lability, and asthenia are much more represented than in the drawing of a person. Signs asthenia serve lines that are not completed, as well as favourite hobby animal: to lie somewhere (in other cases, asthenia may be indicated by a message that the animal sleep a lot). Fear of change is a sign pessimistic position: apparently, Marina does not expect anything good from the future and therefore would like nothing to change.
EMOTIONAL RIGIDITYThe main manifestations of emotional rigidity in the "Non-existent animal" test, as well as in the "Drawing of a man" test, there is an excessive amount of detail, increased accuracy and thoroughness of the drawing, and strong uniform pressure on the pencil. Tendency to excessive detail, monotonous enumerations manifests itself in the story about the animal.
Fourteen-year-old Zhenya E. drew a cyborg (Fig. 75). This is a drawing typical of adolescence, built on a human model and indicating a high need for communication. The drawing is standard, devoid of originality.
Describing his animal, Zhenya said: “This is a cyborg, model 2101. Half of the arm is human, and the bottom of the arm is iron. In the back is a battery that gives out energy. In the head - a computer that replaces the brain. The second hand is all iron. At the bottom of this hand is a nozzle that he can change. The chest is human, there are keys on it. On the second half of the chest - a microphone. On the abdomen, one part is made of iron, the other is a human muscle. The abdominal press is human on the outside, iron on the inside. One leg is iron, the other half. On the legs - like a wire. A transmission system that transmits the air by which it can fly." When asked about what a cyborg usually does, Zhenya replied: "A bodyguard."
Such monotonous enumerations (“one part is human, the other is iron ...”) are typical for highly rigid people. In this case, the severity of this feature suggests the presence of epileptoid accentuation(within the psychological norm).
In addition to signs that speak of high rigidity, Zhenya's drawing is distinguished by an emphasized masculinity of the figure (wide square shoulders, detailed muscles, including those on the "iron" leg). As in the drawing of a person, this usually serves as a sign of the often increased importance of masculine (male) values in adolescents, often combined with aggressiveness. There are other signs in Zhenya's drawing aggressiveness: one hand ends with claws instead of fingers, the other - with a cutting tool (saw), the main occupation of the character is a bodyguard. The high significance of masculine values and aggressiveness are traits closely associated with epileptoid accentuation, so these features indirectly confirm the earlier assumption.
The figure also shows in detail internal organs. Particularly indicative is the "transmitting system" on the legs, which is very reminiscent of a network of blood vessels. The image of the internal organs is interpreted as a sign hypochondria, concerns about your health. It is often found in neuroticism, as well as mental illness. However, there are no other signs in the figure that indicate the presence of corresponding deviations. Therefore, the hypothesis of high hypochondria, neuroticism cannot be put forward without additional data.
Zhenya is a large, calm boy; looks older than his age. He was brought in for a consultation with complaints about conflicts at school and about "excessive independence": he walks until 12 o'clock at night, smokes (and at school during breaks). Parents and teachers think he has too many girls. At the same time, there are also positive manifestations of adulthood: Zhenya earns money washing stairs, brings all the money home: he spends it on his own needs under the control of his parents.
Aggressiveness is noted in relations with peers. Recently, after the boy began to practice kung-fu, the aggressiveness decreased, apparently, it channeled into sports and therefore ceased to manifest itself in other situations.
The data of the psychological examination suggest that the difficulties are connected with the development of the adolescent crisis against the background of the boy's specific personality traits. The lack of flexibility and inability to make reasonable compromises, characteristic of people with epileptoid accentuation, lead to conflicts with the social environment. Recommended psychotherapy aimed at increasing flexibility and ability to adapt to social conditions.
In the drawing of twelve-year-old Igor R. (Fig. 76), there is also a tendency to depict numerous details of the same type: fish scales. However, Igor covered with it only a small part of the body of the animal he painted. In general, the drawing remained extremely little detailed. incompleteness started work is typical for the state asthenia(nervous exhaustion).
Igor's story about the animal he invented is extremely laconic: “Golden fish. Lives in water. Eats everything that comes across in the water. Friendly with other fish. Afraid of sharks. Most of all he loves to eat. Such conciseness, associated with the economy of strength, is also quite typical for asthenia. Anxiety also appeared in the figure (dashed line). Thus, Igor's personality as a whole should be assessed as psychasthenic, since the boy's rigidity is by no means a defining feature of his personality. However, it can further exacerbate the problems caused by asthenia: with the lack of energy caused by asthenia, being rigidly stuck on unimportant details further reduces productivity. These personality traits are combined with a low level of imagination development (the drawing is extremely banal), often signaling a low general cultural and/or intellectual level.
Igor's parents sought psychological counseling due to learning difficulties and the boy's poor relationship with classmates (according to them, Igor has no friends). Psychological examination suggested that one of the causes of these problems is the passivity caused by the asthenic condition. Thus, the primary task is to strengthen the nervous system. It is advisable to start any other corrective measures against a more favorable neurological background after general strengthening treatment.
Sphere of communication
EXTRAVERTIBILITYExtraversion, i.e., the orientation of the personality outward, towards contacts with other people, is manifested in the presence of various and sometimes very numerous organs in a non-existent animal, facing in different directions. These can be legs, arms, tentacles, wings, tails, heads (Fig. 77).
Although the creature invented by Venya generally corresponds to the standard scheme of an animal, it, as often happens with extroverts, has human hands. Speaking about his animal, which he could not think of a name for, Venya said that “it feeds on birds and fish. It eats everything meat, and it has all the adaptations for this: for a creature on earth - legs, for a fish - fins, for a bird - wings. Thus, the focus on extremely wide and varied contacts was also manifested in the description of the animal's way of life. The fact that the purpose of these contacts is the use of the creatures around him as food may indicate a tendency to benefit from his friendships, but such a hypothesis needs to be confirmed. The material provided by this test is clearly insufficient for such a conclusion.
Hands spread apart, as a symbol of extraverted orientation, are also found in images built according to the original model (see Fig. 84) and especially in anthropoid animals.
The non-existent animal drawn by eight-year-old Nina S. - the sunter - corresponds to the scheme of a person (Fig. 78). This alone speaks of a high need for communication. An even more expressive sign is a pronounced extroverted posture with arms wide apart. The hands are very large and blackened (a sign of emotional stress). This suggests that Nina's need for communication remains unsatisfied.
This need is also reflected in the girl's answers to questions about the animal she invented. In second place is his desire, "so that his lizards are not afraid: he really wants to make friends with them, but they are afraid." When asked about what the sunter himself is afraid of, Nina replied: “Dirt. Because he thinks that his coat is very beautiful, so he is afraid of getting it dirty. He is afraid that then no one will be friends with him. Special theme beauty animal (or any other exceptional merit) typical of high demonstrative people who want to be the center of attention. Signs of high demonstrativeness were also noted in Nina's drawing of a man (see commentary on Fig. 37).
INTROVERTITY
If extroverts are characterized by outward orientation, then for introverts- inside. Non-existent animals of the introvert type may either have no limbs at all, or their limbs are turned towards the body. Such an animal is, as it were, "closed in itself", separated from the surrounding space (Fig. 79). Masha's drawing of a person is also clearly introverted (see the commentary to Fig. 33).
Masha called her animal "skull-slon", because it is a turtle with an elephant's trunk (a little original compound animal). Initially, she depicted a trunk pointing down, but this option did not satisfy her. She erased the trunk and drew it in a different position: tucked under her, bent inward. The result is an extremely closed, typically introverted animal.
The sharply reduced size of the drawing suggests depressive tendencies that are not directly reflected in the drawing of a person. Animals such as tortoises shell, protective plates, scales, armor, are common for people who feel defenseless and feel the need for protection.
The description of the animal's lifestyle is dominated by asthenic subject: sleep themes, fatigue. They also correspond to a weakened pressure on the pencil. Much attention has also been paid to obsessively repeated descriptions of food. Recall that Masha suffers from a nervous anorexia; this disease is characterized by obsessive thoughts about nutrition, as if replacing the process of eating itself. Masha begins the story with the words: “The skull elephant sleeps for six hours at night. When he gets up in the morning, he eats grass or leaves. Then he walks. He walks only when it's cold. If it's hot, he sits in a cool place and sleeps. And he collects leaves for himself. Or grass. And then before going to bed, he also eats. And sometimes even in the middle. When asked if the skull elephant was afraid of anything, the girl replied: “He doesn’t like winter very much, because he is afraid that his food will run out.” Mania named the skull elephant's next three desires: "It's not very comfortable for him to walk on rocks. He will ask for fewer stones." "So that he does not get tired, because when he walks a lot, he gets tired." "That was more water- so you don't have to go far.
Another version of the "closed" animal, characteristic of introverted personalities, is depicted by fifteen-year-old Maria P. (Fig. 80). The creature depicted by her, for which she did not come up with a name, is only an outline of an indefinite form. It is built according to the original model and is not equipped with any particular organs: it has no arms, no legs, no head, no internal structure. Such undetailed drawings are common in reserved, markedly introverted people.
Mary gave the following description of her animal: “It is an invisible animal that lives in water, feeds on water to grow. No one sees him, and it is not known where his face, torso, that's what it is. It is friends with everyone, but there are no enemies, since no one sees it. The mention in the story that the animal is “friends with everyone” should not be regarded as a sign that the girl really has a large number of friends. On the contrary, such statements without any indication of who exactly the animal is friends with are typical for children with a lack of communication, the absence of real emotional ties with their peers. Invisibility the animal serves as a symbol lack of emotional contact. Mary herself uses it to justify the absence of enemies, but it is just as naturally applicable to friends (where will they come from if "no one sees him, and it is not known where his face, torso ...").
An extremely interesting symbolic solution to communication problems is presented by fifteen-year-old Kostya D. Judging by his drawing of a man (Fig. 81, a), he is clearly introverted: the arms of the depicted character are tightly pressed to the body, the size of the hands is sharply reduced, and the legs are tightly shifted together. Performing the "Unfortunate Animal" test (Fig. 81, b), Kostya depicted a humanoid creature, emphasizing as much as possible all the features characteristic of introversion and communication disorders. His hands almost merge with the body, his hands are
all are absent, the figure is narrowed, elongated vertically. Thus, the author, as it were, says that the greatest misfortune is the lack of interpersonal contacts.
A happy animal looks exactly the opposite (Fig. 82).
It is also humanoid, but corresponds to an extremely extraverted scheme: it is stretched wide and stands with arms wide apart. However, at a more subtle level, signs of communication disorders can be traced in him (empty eyes, sharply reduced hands). This image could be verbally formulated approximately as follows: “I really want to be sociable, extroverted, but I don’t know how this is achieved.”
When answering the question why this animal is happy, the topic of communication is one of the dominant ones: “This animal is called obben. This is one of those rare beings that are endowed with consciousness. He is happy that he is cheerful, spontaneous. And, realizing himself, he is able to communicate with other animals and animals. I am happy that I can get some pleasure from life. And he enjoys everything. From the fact that he understands himself, that he can communicate with others. He is very close to a person, but not to an ordinary person, but to one who is in a very good mood, who can enjoy just running or swimming.
Along with the theme of sociability, there are two more interrelated themes in this story: firstly, understanding oneself and others, and secondly, the simplicity and immediacy of the inner world. It can be assumed that Kostya sees his own inner world as overcomplicated and that he is not satisfied with the extent to which he manages to understand himself and those around him.
The theme is even clearer in Kostya's answer to the question why another animal is unhappy: “This animal is called a palus. This is a creature that has been unconsciously going somewhere all its life. It does not understand why it is coming, from where, where and why, and is tormented by this uncertainty, this incomprehensibility. This story symbolically reflects the experiences associated with attempts to understand oneself, with the search for life purpose and the meaning of life. Thus, in the drawings and stories of Kostya, a complex of problems is traced, typical for the period of transition from adolescence to adolescence: the problems of communication, self-knowledge and the search for the meaning of life.
Kostya asked for a consultation on his own initiative with a request to check if he had any deviations from the norm, that is, if he was suffering from a mental illness. A psychotherapeutic conversation was held with him, during which it was explained to him that his experiences were not in the least a manifestation of the disease, but marked an important stage in the formation of a conscious personality.
DEMONSTRATION
sign demonstrativeness in the drawing of a non-existent animal, as in the drawing of a person, there is a desire to decorate the animal, as well as attributing various virtues to it (see the analysis of Fig. 78). Ornamentation is clearly seen in the drawing of fifteen-year-old Yulia T. (Fig. 83): either a pattern, or a blanket on the back, stars in the eyes, a tassel on the tail, a tuft, a collar.
Julia made the following description of the lifestyle of the animal she invented, which she called the Rav: “This animal lives in trees. It feeds on ants and all sorts of insects. It is friendly with mice, dogs and all the animals that live in the forest. But he also has enemies. These are mosquitoes, spiders, etc. Desires: to be the smartest; get rid of mosquitoes; to be happy".
Both in the figure and in the description there are no signs of any adverse psychological features. The description of the lifestyle is quite logical; specific friends are indicated (mice and dogs); desires are natural and correspond to the way of life.
Much more peculiar is the animal invented by the eleven-year-old Inga B. (Fig. 84). It was built according to the original model and contains a large number of various details, which is typical for demonstrative personalities. The animal is called many-headed. Inga described it as follows: “It flies. Eats everything. The circle is a mode of locomotion since it has no legs. On the circle are buttons that either someone controls or it itself. From below - steps to stand: otherwise it will roll. It cannot move its eyes, so it has many eyes and mouths: some look down, others look up, and each mouth has its own set of words.
The theme of multiple faces could be compared with the theme of several heads, discussed in connection with the drawing by Ilya T. (see Fig. 71). However, in this case it has a completely different meaning. The different faces of the animal invented by Inga do not quarrel with each other, as with Ilya, but, on the contrary, complement each other. In fact, they are different masks or a set of roles ("each mouth has its own set of words"). Some theatricality of behavior, a tendency to constantly play a role - are extremely typical for demonstrative people. However, in their drawings and stories, this problem is not presented very often. It indicates the presence of reflection, awareness of one's own psychological characteristics. Such a high level for Inga's age
reflections are rare.
Taking into account the peculiarities of the drawing of a person made by Inga (see analysis of Fig. 54), as well as taking into account the nature of her mother's complaints, it was concluded that Inga is significantly ahead of her age in terms of the level of personal development. The results of the test "Non-existent animal" confirm it. The tendency towards increased self-control, noted in the analysis of the drawing of a person, was also reflected in the drawing of a non-existent animal. Its manifestation is "buttons that either someone controls, or it itself." The juxtaposition of external (“someone”) and internal (“itself”) control is characteristic of the teenage struggle for independence, which is clearly manifested in Inga's behavior and served as the main reason for her mother's seeking advice.
In the drawing of a non-existent animal, the theme of instability also appeared: the animal has "footboards to stand: otherwise it will roll." This theme, as in the drawing of a person, where it was expressed by an unstable pose, testifies to the girl's fears that she is not well oriented in practical life. Hence the need for increased self-control.
PROBLEMS OF SOCIALIZATIONFrequent manifestation reduced conformity, insufficient socialization man serves deviation from the conventional way of depiction in drawings that generally correspond to the scheme of an animal or a person (this criterion does not apply to animals built according to the original model).
So, nine-year-old Yaroslav V. describes his non-existent animal, which he called “terrible flying dragon” (Fig. 85), in accordance with the scheme of the animal: “The face of a crocodile, on top - horns. Five arms in front and five in the back (in the figure, these are short processes that look a bit like tentacles). Behind - four wings (longer processes, two of which are located above the "hands", two more - below them). At the same time, neither the general outline of the animal, nor individual details (horns, hands) correspond to the traditional image of the animal. They can only be identified by description. They in no way correspond to the name of the animal. The angularity and squareness of shapes present in the figure are also typical for people with low level of socialization and communication difficulties.
The large size of the drawing suggests that the boy is impulsive. Another possible explanation for the increased size - an increased level of anxiety - is unlikely in this case, since there are no other signs characteristic of the state of anxiety.
Yaroslav gave the following description of his animal's lifestyle: “He lives on the moon. Comes to Earth, eats people. Lives for a hundred million years. His skin is so thick that even a bullet cannot penetrate it. He has such hands that he can lift a house. And his step is a hundred kilometers.
When asked if this animal has friends, the boy unequivocally answered “no”, and when asked if there were enemies, he said: “Yes. People. Because they kill him, and he eats them." According to him, the animal he invented is not afraid of anything. His three desires are: "So that people do not resist and that he can eat them just so that they do not hunt him." "Add size to make it really big." “We still need strength so that if people resist, they launch a rocket at him so that he can catch it and send it back to them.”
In Yaroslav's story, themes are typical of communication disorders: the animal lives on the moon, has no friends. However, there are topics that make one suspect not only asociality, but also the existence of antisocial tendencies (negative attitude towards social norms). These are themes enmity with people And eating people. Their significance is enhanced by the fact that all the desires attributed to the animal are concentrated around them. It is also significant that, apart from people, no other types of food are named.
As already noted, with the difficulties of socialization, animals are often depicted instead of animals. mechanical structures. Very rich material for analysis is provided by the drawing and story of thirteen-year-old Andrei R. (Fig. 86). Andrei portrayed the Martian, partly using the scheme of a man (a bipedal upright creature), but technical details prevail. The depicted creature has five eyes for close range (in the center) and two eyes (on separate stems) for far range. It has main ears set far to the sides like manipulators, and additional ears (closer to the center) that "catch in the water at very long distances, at low frequencies." Above - an antenna "to receive radio signals in the galaxy", and going down from it "a contact that conducts signals to the brain and decrypts." Under the main ears are the hands, resembling a rake because of the long spikes extending down from them, representing the "protection for the hands." A curved stick extending upwards from the hand is an "automatic machine". From above, the Martian is covered by a helmet with protrusions ending in something like gears; this is additional protection. Veins are drawn in the lower part of the body (between the arms). In the legs are "an engine that helps to fly through the galaxy", and an additional jet engine "to move through the water." The drawing is accompanied by the following description of the animal's way of life: “They have a city there, just like on earth. There are good people bad people, there are freaks, there are beautiful ones. Here I have a handsome man. This is a policeman of the first rank. He only catches criminals who are very dangerous. He has a wife, children. They can be in any environment: they don't breathe, they don't have a mouth. They are practically impossible to kill, they are practically invulnerable. Therefore, the police usually shoot their eyes with machine guns. But such measures are taken only in relation to mature criminals, and negotiations are usually conducted. Explain what negotiation is. The criminal is caught at a distance of one hundred light years and negotiations begin. And if this is a hardened criminal, then they simply fly to him. But their crime rate is very low: half a percent of all Martians. Basically, happiness and goodness reign on their planet. And civilization is advancing at a very fast pace. The further it goes, the lower the percentage of murderers, crime, because finally everyone understands that this is bad. And they watch the worlds that are at the stage of primitive development - for example, the earth. Send plates to us. And it seems to me that they want to prove to us that they are not going to conquer our planet at all. And while they refrain from making contact, because when the military units see the saucer, they begin to fire at it. But they believe that someday people will understand that it is not necessary to meet guests from other worlds so inhospitably. But they don't want to impose their presence on us."
Both the figure and the description reflect the setting for a wide, but very distant (formalized) communication, aimed at collecting information about a partner, and not at direct emotional contact. A sign of such an installation is the complete demarcation body and head of a Martian from the surrounding space. Pose formally extraverted(arms outstretched) no organs of communication(anything even remotely resembling hands); furthest to the sides are the ears. In the story, the theme of distant communication is vividly reflected in the description of the negotiations, in which the negotiating parties are at a distance of one hundred light years from each other. The predominance of collecting information over direct contacts is also revealed in the statements that the Martians "refrain from contact", "observe", "send saucers", "do not want to impose their presence". With explicit excess of sense organs(seven eyes of two kinds, two kinds of ears, antenna) they have no mouth, which is specifically noted in the story.
An excess of sensory organs is a sign of increased anxiety.
It also manifests itself in the fact that the Martian Andrei is equipped with numerous protective devices: a helmet with additional protrusions, a special "hand protection". In the story, the themes correspond to this invulnerability And directed at the hero of aggression earthlings (creating a basis for fear).
Meanwhile, in the formal features of the drawing, anxiety did not manifest itself (there are no features of lines, hatching, etc. specific for anxiety). This seems to be due to the high level self-control, enabling them to cope successfully with their emotional states. Talks about high self-control strict symmetry drawing and underlined especially clear outline(double helmet line). The foresight that manifested itself in the duplication of most systems (eyes, ears, two machine guns) and the fact that the hero "can be in any environment" testifies to the same.
mechanistic Martian, and especially the description of "a contact that conducts signals to the brain and decrypts", suggest rationalism, tendency to overthink. The style of the story speaks about the same, pronounced reasoning. IN In this regard, the phrase: "I explain what negotiations are" is especially expressive. Such rationalism is typical of people with schizoid accentuation. In this case, reasoning is combined with insufficient correspondence between the drawing and the description of the lifestyle. In particular, it is not clear why ears that hear perfectly in water and a jet engine are needed. The story also showed formalism, often found in pronounced schizoids, for example, an indication that a Martian had a wife and children remained purely formal.
Themes occupy a significant place in the story. police, criminals And crimes. Topics like these are typical for asocial people who often have to face difficulties due to insufficient knowledge of social norms. Asociality is also indicated by the presence in the story moralizing: an explanation that crime is bad, that “it is not necessary to meet guests from other worlds so inhospitably”, etc. Moralization is generally very typical for asocial personalities; Thus, chronic alcoholics are usually the most active preachers of a sober lifestyle. Andrey's low socialization manifested itself in negative evaluations given to people(to earthlings): they are "at the stage of primitive development", inhospitable (to put it mildly).
As already noted, the image of the internal organs is a sign of a neurotic state. In this case, blood vessels are drawn, interpreted in the same way. In the story, this corresponds emotionally unpleasant themes, such as Andrey's pointing out that "the police shoot their eyes", combined with the statement that "happiness reigns on their planet, goodness reigns."
Taken together, these data allow us to conclude that Andrei has a pronounced schizoid accentuation, which causes communication and socialization disorders. Increased level of anxiety; the state at the time of the examination can be assessed as neurotic. A high level of self-control enables the boy to function successfully and avoid sharp conflicts. Apparently, this explains the fact that the parents did not complain about deviations in Andrey's behavior. They are only concerned with communication disorders. At the same time, one can fear the emergence of such deviations in the course of the further development of the adolescent crisis. Therefore, the boy was recommended psychotherapy aimed at increasing his socialization and normalizing his psychological state (unfortunately, we have no information about whether it was carried out, or about how Andrei's subsequent development went).
An extremely original version of the combination of an animal with a house was created by eight-year-old Arkady S. (Fig. 87). His half-lion, half-horse,
reported by the boy to have a lion's head (actually drawn according to the outline of a human face), a horse's tail, and five horse's legs. People live inside it. On the head - a pipe to get the smoke out of the stove.
A story about the animal's lifestyle: “Eating stones. That is, it eats trees. Eats - firewood is obtained, they go into the house, there is a stove in the house, and people heat the stove. And the animal eats only the leaves. Lives on Olympus. When asked what it usually does, the boy replied: “It guards the house that is inside. This is such an animal, and inside, in the stomach - a house. The inspector then asked if the animal had friends and enemies. The boy thought: “Is it true that he has enemies? I only know what kind of helpers the lion has - tigers. They help the lion to hide. To the question of what or from whom he needed to hide, the answer was received: "From the rain." Arkady refused to answer the question about what this animal likes, what he likes, but he willingly said that it does not like to sleep. His three wishes: "Never sleep." "To keep watch over the house." “So that the tiger continued to help him, he did all sorts of things.”
A hybrid of an animal with a house is an extremely unusual decision, indicating a pronounced non-standard boy, his non-conformity. Eating inedible things (originally "eating rocks") is a common symptom of communication disorders. This is also indicated by the image of empty eyes (without iris and pupils). Successive clarifications in the question of the animal's nutrition, ending with a "normal" variant (leaves), testify to attempts
Arcadia fit into the standard framework, which he succeeds with great difficulty. In answering the question about friends, an inadequate attitude to the very concept of “friends” is manifested: instead of a friend, the boy names an assistant (judging by the desire that he “continue to help, do all sorts of things,” meaning someone like a servant).
Need hide- evidence of fear of the outside world. The statement that the animal needs to hide "from the rain" is clearly a formal excuse. The desires of the animal are rather unusual. Two of them are aimed at maintaining the existing situation (continue to guard the house and use the help of the tiger). It speaks of the fear of change pessimistic position. The indication that the half-lion-half-horse lives on Olympus pursues two goals at the same time: to demonstrate its awareness and exalt the invented animal. Both of these goals speak of high demonstrativeness. In this test, no other manifestations of demonstrativeness are observed, and this alone is not enough to draw conclusions, however, other methods confirm that Arkady's level of demonstrativeness is very high.
Thus, the main psychological features that appeared in this figure are the boy's non-conformity, his non-standard approach to the world, the low level of socialization, and communication disorders. Arkady's ideas about reality are not quite adequate, there is an inaccurate use of concepts.
Taken together, all this allows us to talk about schizoid accentuation. The boy is characterized by a fear of the world around him, a pessimistic outlook on life. There are signs of high demonstrativeness, confirmed by other tests.
Parents note that Arkady has a very bad relationship with classmates. Frequent conflicts. Arkady complains that the boys offend him, beat him, although, according to the observations of his parents, this is not true. Arkady learns the school curriculum with great difficulty.
Both the boy's complaints and the difficulties in learning can be explained by the insufficient adequacy of his ideas. Psycho-correctional work has begun with Arkady, aimed at increasing the level of adequacy and socialization of the boy.
Pronounced violations of socialization and adequacy are observed in fifteen-year-old Nadia B. (Fig. 88). She accompanied the humanoid animal she had drawn with the following description: “I called this animal death. If you look closely, you can see: cigarettes, drugs, booze, garbage and much more, which is death for a person.
Three desires: Forget people about the existence of drugs, booze, etc. Not to have an ax in their hands, that is, not to kill. Meet the opposite animal.
It lives in every person, and many are friends with him, while others have no connection with him. It feeds on the bad deeds and habits of man. Such animals must be destroyed. Enemies: kindness, future, fun, happiness.
As in the picture, so in the story dominates anti-social theme(drugs, alcohol). Such topics, regardless of the moral assessments given by the subjects, are typical for people with asocial or antisocial trends. Inadequacy in the performance of the task manifested itself, firstly, in symbolization: instead of an animal that has a particular way of life, a symbolic embodiment of a certain idea is presented (since this idea is extremely banal, it is not necessary to talk about a creative approach to the task here). Secondly, instead of the desires that a fictional animal could have, the wishes of the author of the drawing are reported. Symbolization is also revealed at the language level: “not to have an ax in your hands”.
How inadequacy, so symbolization suggest that socialization disorders in this case may be the result of a mental illness. This hypothesis is also supported by the results of Nadya's implementation of other methods. In this regard, a consultation with a psychiatrist is recommended.
Aggressiveness
LOW AGGRESSION
The most complete information about the level of aggressiveness of the subject is given by comparing the classical version of the “Non-existent animal” method with the additional option “Angry animal”. In particular, such a comparison makes it possible to reveal hidden, including deliberately concealed, aggressive tendencies.
An indicator of the absence of such trends is the absence of aggressive symbols (attack weapons) in the main drawing and a slight increase in aggressive accessories when moving to the "Evil Animal". An example of this is the drawings of eighteen-year-old Polina Sh. As an ordinary non-existent animal, she made a drawing that corresponds to the generally accepted scheme, devoid of signs of aggression (Fig. 89).
Aggressiveness is also completely absent in the description of the animal's lifestyle, which Polina called the minke whale: “A very kind and sweet animal, very devoted to people. He likes to eat grass, eats apples and wild berries. A very smart creature. It lives mainly in villages closer to the forest. he himself bright colors and can be seen from afar. He himself originated in a hybrid from various most beautiful animals. He lives in a hut with his family and children.”
A very moderate symbolism appears in the drawing of the "most evil and terrible" animal. verbal aggression: toothy mouth(Fig. 90).
In the story about her animal sorcerer, Polina provided him with many negative characteristics, but there is no aggression among them: “This creature lives in deep space, away from people. Rude, arrogant traitor and liar. A very big pretender is a chameleon. Hates people and seeks to destroy the earth. It feeds on small organisms that live on his planet, where he lives alone, called Witchcraft.
The statement that "the most evil and terrible" animal "feeds on small organisms" is a sign of a very low level of aggressiveness. Sometimes similar statements (for example, that the animal eats vegetables and fruits) appear in subjects who deliberately hide their aggressiveness. However, in this case, such an assumption would be extremely doubtful, since Polina conscientiously provided her animal with negative signs and even reported that it "hates people and seeks to destroy the earth." This message itself is not a sign of aggressiveness, since the girl, neither in the drawing nor in the story, gave the animal any means that would allow it to realize its anti-human aspirations.
INCREASED AGGRESSION
One of the most common signs of increased aggressiveness in the drawing of a non-existent animal is the presence of sharp protrusions and outgrowths, regardless of what they depict (horns, ears, tentacles, claws). An example of such a drawing is the drama robot depicted by eight-year-old Arthur S. (Fig. 91). The most sharp outgrowths directed upwards are the hands. As Arthur explained, “He has iron hands. They hit. The head can tear off someone's head. He has drool - poison. If someone fights against him, he immediately melts (that is, his opponents melt from poisonous saliva). When he cuts off his head, blood flows out, he feeds on blood. When asked what the drama robot likes to do, the boy replied: “Attacks enemies. He is scary and powerful. He attacks unnoticed. It can attack from a tree. When asked why he attacked “invisibly”, the answer was received: “Because the enemies also attack, they can kill. They seem to take revenge on other enemies. When asked who his enemies were, Arthur replied: “I don’t know. Maybe cyborgs, "and about his friends he said that they are" the same as him and a little different look. He also said that the Drambot lives in another galaxy and that the three things that
if he asked the magician, this is: “To have very powerful troops to attack enemies”; "Infinite life, so it was very difficult to kill him"; "To make him bigger - in appearance, in height."
So bright manifestation aggressive tendencies in the story of the animal's lifestyle is relatively rare. Usually it is inhibited due to social control.
In this case, social control is weakened, since Arthur has serious violations of socialization. They were commented on when analyzing the drawing of a person he made (see Fig. 45). Besides, Arthur is only eight years old, and at that age the control mechanisms are still far from being fully developed. In the above story, in addition to their own aggressive tendencies, there is also a fear of retaliatory aggression from others. It can be assumed that this fear is acquired as a result of the accumulation of negative experience. Probably, it was she who led to the fact that recently (the last year and a half), the boy, according to his parents, began to fight much less than before.
Fourteen-year-old Volodya S., according to the standard instructions (draw a non-existent animal), portrayed a boxer (Fig. 92), writing about him extremely short story: “This is a boxer. He defeats everyone "(which is also noted in the inscription on the drawing itself:" cheers - Victory "),
The underlined drawing of muscles, fists and especially broad shoulders speak of the high importance of masculine (male) values. In combination with the main occupation of the depicted creature (boxing is an aggressive sport), this allows one to suspect an increased level of aggressiveness. However, the direct symbolism of aggression is presented in the drawing rather little: these are fangs and fists (boxing gloves), drawn with strong pressure.
The special brevity of the story seems to serve as a means of avoiding self-disclosure. It is very likely that aggressiveness is hiding. An additional reason for this assumption is that in the drawing Volodya set a socially acceptable form of aggressiveness. of a pronounced trend towards control Behind the external forms of behavior speaks a sharply emphasized fencing around the depicted figure (the ropes of the ring).
Any doubts about the true level of Volodya's aggressiveness disappear when looking at the evil and terrible animal depicted by him (Fig. 93).
Since in this version of the test the instruction itself legitimizes aggressiveness, that is, makes it permissible, this time the corresponding symbolism is presented in full. There are two sharp horns on the head and one on the nose, long spikes on the shoulders and on the knee, claws on the legs, a serrated dagger or sword in one hand and a mace with large spikes in the other. All these accessories are underlined with a strong pressure line, partially blackened.
The story about the evil animal is somewhat more detailed than about the usual one: “Etovicongorygosaurus. He lives in the mountains. He is evil, he conquers all. Lives alone. It feeds on people."
Interestingly, with the exception of the aggressive symbolism, the Vikongori Gosaurus looks exactly like a boxer. It’s as if the viewer is being told: “I try to look like this (boxer), but this is how I really am (Vicon-Gorygosaurus)”.
TENDENCY TO VERBAL AGGRESSIONIn the drawing of a non-existent animal, the tendency to verbal aggression, as in the drawing of a person, it is expressed in emphasizing the teeth. Like general aggressiveness, it can be hidden when depicting a simply non-existent animal, manifesting itself only in the drawing of an evil and terrible animal. So, seventeen-year-old Lena F., according to the standard instructions, depicted an animal called a merry fellow (Fig. 94).
About her animal, she wrote the following: “Funny, kind, cute animal. This is what his name says. Lives in the land of laughter. In this country, you can not be sad, cry. Veselchak helps everyone to have fun, comes up with various funny games, activities, stories.
Anxiety appeared in the drawing (shading, especially large ears); possible fears (large blackened eyes). In the story, as one might assume, the girl's own attitude is expressed in order not to allow herself to be sad (“one cannot be sad in this country”). Apparently, she, like her character, usually tries to distract herself from her negative experiences. There is no aggressive theme in the drawing or in the story.
In the image of an evil and terrible animal, the symbolism of physical aggression is presented very moderately: these are claws drawn with strong pressure (Fig. 95). However, the symbolism of verbal aggression is clearly expressed in it: a huge mouth with underlined (shaded) teeth.
The story reads as follows: “The Scarecrow lives in the land of fear. He is very harmful, loves to lie, avoids everyone, and at night on a full moon he likes to scare everyone, this is his favorite pastime. The statement that "feared" likes to scare everyone as well as the general appearance of the picture, speaks of a tendency to verbal aggression.
FEAR OF AGGRESSION AND DEFENSIVE AGGRESSION
In addition to the level of their own aggressiveness, the drawing of a non-existent animal shows an attitude towards possible aggression from others. Fear of attack leads to desire protect fictional animal. As protection, a shell can be depicted, as in the drawing by Masha R. (see Fig. 79), scales, armor, especially thick skin (it may not be in the picture, but it is described in the story). The image of quills, like those of a porcupine, or thorns is very widespread. An example is an animal called a dragon (Fig. 96). He has two arms, six legs, thorns on his body, “so that no one bites him,” and numerous bites, depicted as circles with a dot in the center.
Grisha spoke about the lifestyle of the animal as follows: “He lives in the mountains, in a cave. Only he's already dead. This is a dinosaur. He loves meat, a lot of meat, he loves to eat.” When asked what this animal eats, the boy replied: "Other dragons and people that were a long time ago." When asked to describe the size of the animal, he said the dragon was “terrible and big and huge; like three houses. When asked about friends, the answer was unequivocal: “No. One lives." Dinosaurs were named as enemies. When the inspector asked what this animal likes to do, Grisha replied: "Eat." When asked to name any other favorite activities of the animal, the boy said: "Fight, bite," and when asked about what he does not like, he said: "Eating stones." It also turned out that the "dragon" is afraid "to be eaten and to throw huge stones at him." The inspector asked who could do this, and Grisha explained: "There are dinosaurs even bigger than him."
Three wishes of the "dragon": "To be big"; “So that they don’t eat him, so that they don’t throw stones at him”; "For him to have friends."
Regarding the first desire, the inspector expressed some surprise: "He's already very big." “No, little one,” Grisha answered. - It is necessary that there was more of all.
When analyzing Grisha's drawing of a person, both anxious and depressive symptoms are noted (see commentary on Fig. 31). The state of anxiety is also diagnosed by the image of a non-existent animal (greatly enlarged). depressive the symptomatology did not appear in the drawing, but was reflected in the story: this death theme(“only he’s already dead”).
Based on the drawing and the story, one can more specifically determine the nature of Grisha's anxious fears. This is, first of all, the fear of aggression: the animal is afraid “to be eaten and to throw stones at it”; his desire is “so that they don’t eat him, so that they don’t throw stones at him”; despite the thorns, it's all bitten. Image of bites, like any ran,- expressive sign neurotic state.
Apparently, Grishina's fear of aggression is connected with his inability to communicate with peers. It is reflected in widely spaced hands with very large brushes (high unsatisfied need for communication), empty eyes. "Dragon" lives alone in a cave, he has no friends, one of the desires is to have friends. The theme of eating stones is also typical of communication disorders.
The description of the fear of aggression is characteristic giant size animal (Grisha has it “huge, like three houses”) and a wish become much more("it is necessary that there be more than all"). At the same time, the drawing itself can be large (as in this case), or it can be small, so that the theme of gigantic size occurs only in the story.
In the story, Grisha repeatedly tries to oppose the aggression of the dragon himself depicted by him to an external threat. He is "terrible", eats "other dragons and humans", loves to "fight, bite". This shows a trend towards defensive aggression(the desire to defend themselves by attacking). However, judging by the absence of truly aggressive accessories in the drawing and by the extreme conciseness of the aggressive theme in the story (it only sounds in answers to questions), this trend is not realized.
A more pronounced tendency to defensive aggression is manifested in fourteen-year-old Ilya R. (Fig. 97). The “three-horned monster” depicted by him is completely covered with thorns. Along with this, he has five large sharp spikes on his back, which could be used not only for defense, but also for attack. The thorns themselves are also protected by thorns.
In the story, the themes associated with the fear of aggression are combined with the actual aggressive themes and with statements that reflect a feeling of loneliness: “This is a three-horned monster. It is very evil and eats everyone. It is very large, about the size of an elephant. It is protected by thorns so that no one attacks it. It has another mouth with teeth on its body." From the answers to the questions, it turns out that the three-horned monster lives in the forest, alone. He has neither friends nor enemies. To the question of whom it defends itself with thorns, if it has no enemies, Ilya replied: "For example, from a tiger."
Ilya said that the animal would express the following desires: “To have all the animals that he likes come to him; for example, he likes to eat rabbits”; “To look not scary so that they would not be afraid of him; someone comes to him - and he eats"; "To make him have an eye from behind."
When asked why the three-horned monster had an eye from behind, the boy replied: “To see the prey.” The desire to increase sensitivity is a characteristic sign of anxiety and fear. The motivation indicated by Ilya (“to see prey”) reflects attempts to overcome fears using one of the psychological defense mechanisms - rationalization.
Parents brought Ilya to a psychological consultation with a complaint that he did not communicate with anyone. If, walking down the street, he sees one of his classmates, he tries to hide so as not to meet him, although, according to his parents, his classmates treat him well. Impaired not only communication with peers, but also communication with teachers. In particular, Ilya does not answer in class, although he copes well with all written work.
All these complaints can be explained by a greatly increased anxiety and fear of aggression, on the basis of which a fear of any communication in general has developed. In Ilya's behavior, the parents did not notice a tendency to defensive aggression, which manifested itself in the test materials. This can be explained either by the fact that it is suppressed by fears, or simply by the absence of conflict situations in which it could be realized. The absence of conflicts ensures
Ilya's tendency to exclude contacts, combined with a good attitude towards him from his classmates.
Defensive aggression is not always so harmless. It is not uncommon for it to be actively manifested at the behavioral level. Despite the fact that the person himself perceives it as protective, in reality it can become proactive: expecting an attack (perhaps without any reason), a person rushes to attack first in advance.
NEUROTIC AGGRESSION
neurotic aggression, like protective, it is a response to an unfavorable external situation. However, this is a much more generalized reaction than defensive aggression: it is not directed directly at the source of a potential threat, but at the entire environment. In such cases, it is said that a person is angry at the whole world because of his failures. A sign of neurotic aggression in the "Non-existent animal" test is a combination of neurotic and aggressive manifestations. At the same time, the case is very common when in the original version of the test (simply a non-existent animal) there is only neurotic symptoms, and aggression is manifested in the drawing of an angry and terrible animal (Fig. 98, 99).
Hatching with strong pressure indicates high anxiety and emotional tension. The special care of shading suggests that Valera is also distinguished by a high level of rigidity. The carefully underlined outline is evidence of a high level of control. An image is also considered an indicator of good control. long neck. Consequently, neurotic symptoms should not be particularly noticeable in the boy's behavior, since at the level of external manifestations they are inhibited due to increased self-control.
The story he wrote states: “My non-existent animal lives in the swamps. This is a flying turtle. It feeds on worms and algae. Her enemies are snakes and some people, and her friends are fish and birds. Fleeing from danger, she flies into the air and disappears from sight in the blink of an eye.
This story contains a typical neurotic subject. This is, firstly, emotionally disturbing place- a swamp (the indication that the animal lives in mud, in mud is also interpreted). Secondly, this mention unpleasant food- worms (slugs, garbage, muck, etc. are interpreted similarly). And, finally, certain types are typical for a neurotic state. fears- neurotic fears. These include, in particular, the fear of small animals (insects, mice, etc.) and the fear of snakes. The presence of such fears can manifest itself when answering the question of what the animal is afraid of, or (as in this case) when describing its enemies. Valera's story also reflects unspecified disturbing fears ("escaping from danger ...").
Valera depicted the most evil and terrible animal in the form of a sea serpent with an open mouth (Fig. 99). He refused to give it a name. The figure shows signs of both defensive and active aggression. The former are represented by spikes (or ridges) on the back of the animal, the latter by an open, toothy mouth (a sign of verbal aggression) and sharp tusks. The signs of anxiety, emotional tension, rigidity and high control noted in the first figure also persist.
There is an aggressive theme in the story, but in rather mild terms: “My animal lives in the depths of the ocean. It feeds on sharks and other large fish. In length reaches 20 meters. Sometimes attacks ships. His friends are the same as he is, but he has no enemies (there has not yet been found such an animal that would overcome him).
It seems that Valera is more inclined not to real aggression, but to demonstrating an aggressive position in order to scare off a possible enemy. This position of his is associated with a neurotic state that creates a general feeling of discomfort and an indefinite threat emanating from the outside world.
A similar picture, but with less pronounced neuroticism, is observed in fifteen-year-old Lyudmila K. She portrayed a pretty animal called "eye" (Fig. 100). About her animal, she wrote the following story: “His name is Big Eyes. Since he has very long legs, and there are suction cups at their ends, he sticks them to the eaves of the roofs of houses and sleeps there (upside down). He has a third eye on his back, which helps him during sleep in case of any danger (it is always open during sleep). Since he lives in the city, he is very fond of sweet food (chocolate, cookies). His friends are only his brothers. Together they fly out of town (for the weekend), go to the bathhouse together. His enemies are forest animals."
Both the drawing and the story make a favorable impression. The figure shows very moderate aggressiveness (sharp beak). There are equally moderate signs of anxiety, possibly fears (increased size of the drawing, eyes with a blackened iris, a third eye on the back in case of "any danger"). Numerous circles on the body, scales on the legs and on the ears are evidence of some rigidity. All these features, judging by the low degree of their severity, do not go beyond the psychological norm.
A significantly different impression is made by Lyudmila's drawing of an "evil and terrible" animal, for which she did not come up with a name (Fig. 101).
She wrote about this animal: “Food is a monster (as in the text - A.V.) are land animals. With his long arms he pulls them out of the ground. It also poses a danger to animals. It sucks the blood out of them with its sharp stings.
This time, both neuroticism and aggression were clearly manifested. The whole drawing is painted over with an even gray tone, some parts of the drawing are erased and redone. These are signs of high anxiety. There is a desire to protect themselves from a possible threat (thorns on the body and on the tail).
Rough shape distortion eyes (in this case, turning them into aggressive points) is one of the indicators neuroticism. Neuroticization also manifested itself in a sharp change in the style of description. If the description of a simply non-existent animal is made quite literary, with detailed phrases, then when describing an evil and terrible animal, chopped, extremely simplified phrases are used; coordination is violated, gross errors of attention appear ("nutrition this monsters are…”).
Description of the feeding method blood sucking victims, often found in people prone to neurotic aggression. Aggressive symbolism is also represented by sharp stings, pointed eyes, forked claws at the ends of the hands. The tip also ends with a tail. As already noted, a massive tail pulled up is a sexual symbol. Therefore, it can be assumed that in the perception of Lyudmila, sexuality is closely connected with aggression. In the drawing of a simply non-existent animal, the tail, although it is present, is by no means as massive as that of an evil and terrible animal. Manifestations of aggressiveness in People's drawing of an evil and terrible animal significantly exceed the level typical for girls of her age. They are combined with signs of neuroticism, which makes it possible to qualify aggressiveness as neurotic. There are no such manifestations in the drawing made according to the standard instructions. This suggests that Luda's neurotic aggression is not constant, but arises in response to emotional stress.
Reaction to emotional stress
The standard instruction (“draw a non-existent animal”) is emotionally neutral. In additional tasks, topics appear that can potentially be emotionally taxing. The proposal to come up with “the most evil and terrible animal” actualizes the fears and concerns associated with an external threat. The task to draw "the most unfortunate animal" is addressed to negative experiences associated with one's own internal state. Therefore, a comparison of the results of the performance of these three variants of the task makes it possible to identify the reaction of the subject to different types of emotional stress.
Tatyana N., according to the standard instructions, depicted an animal called "pancake" (Fig. 102). She said the following about her animal: “It is a type of flat living matter. Moves with small legs. There are no sense organs. Should I tell you how it reproduces? No way. How the Lord God releases them... - but there is no activity of its own. They don't take part in it. Very passive and not ... there is no point in his existence. When asked what this animal eats, Tatiana replied: “Water. He lives in the forest. Water is dripping - it has enough nutrients that he needs.
The figure shows high anxiety (hatching, multiple lines). The main theme of the story is passivity animal. Along with the extremely low detail of the drawing, this suggests asthenic condition. There is also a lack of meaning in life. Apparently, Tatyana's need for the meaning of life is acutely unsatisfied, which indicates a certain infantility (this problem is typical for early adolescence). The story presents a detailed verbose departure from the topic of reproduction. Although the inspector did not ask any questions on this topic, the girl seems to ask again: “Is it necessary to tell how it breeds?”, After which almost half of the story is devoted to explaining that this animal does not breed at all. This speaks of trouble in the sexual sphere, leading to attempts to avoid it.
According to the drawing of an evil and terrible animal (Fig. 103), it can be assumed that Tatyana is characterized neurotic reaction to emotional stress. It manifests itself in increased signs of anxiety(especially pronounced multiplicity of lines), in decay of form and trying get away from the task. Describing her drawing, Tatyana said: “It's like…not quite an animal. At first I thought it was smoke. I began to draw smoke, and then such threads turned out from it. Appearance in drawing unformed objects, such as smoke, puddles, clouds, etc. - a sign of a high level anxiety, typical of a neurotic state.
About the invented animal, Tatyana said: “It does not cause physical damage ... but envelops another person and paralyzes the will, that is, it forces them to do what this person does not want. It multiplies - when some kind of thread envelops a person strongly, it breaks off and ... like budding: it branches; one thread diverges into many. When asked why this animal “paralyzes the will” of a person, Tatyana replied: “This is his function, he has no other. He lives for this. You can probably enjoy the fact that people stop doing what they themselves want, that they lose their freedom - and this gives him pleasure. Speech disorders, missing in the story about a simply non-existent animal - an additional sign of a neurotic reaction to emotional stress. As in the first task, there is a desire to get away from sexual issues: almost half of the story is devoted to describing the asexual form of reproduction - budding. The theme of passivity, which was voiced in the first story, is revealed here in much more detail, being connected with the themes of lack of freedom, lack of will, and increased dependence on others. An interesting clause "envelops another person”: therefore, the “evil animal” itself also symbolizes a person, perhaps a specific one - someone who, according to Tatiana’s feelings, “paralyzes her will”.
The drawing of the most unfortunate animal (Fig. 104) is similar to the one that was made according to the standard instructions, which the girl herself noted. Its main graphic difference is a particularly clearly underlined contour, indicating the actualization of self-control.
Thus, the reaction to the internal emotional load (feeling of one's unhappiness) is significantly different than to the external load. If, with a threat from the outside, a neurotic reaction is observed, leading to disturbances in activity (disintegration of the form of the drawing, violations of the coherence of speech), then the internal load causes the mobilization of self-control and an increase in organization. Apparently, Tatyana is not able to withstand external stress, but she has learned to effectively control her internal states.
At the same time, the internal load leads to the actualization of depressive tendencies, as evidenced by the theme of death that appears in the story of the unfortunate animal: “It looks like the first animal, but there is one difference: it has no direction in which it moves, it is passive. And this has a head end, but it always moves in the wrong direction, and cannot find the right direction. When asked where he needed to go, Tatyana replied: “No one knows. His cross is that he always goes somewhere and always comes to the wrong place, he cannot find what he needs. It seems to him that he will find, but over time this belief disappears - and he dies.
Update intelligent control in response to the internal emotional load is represented by the appearance in the animal heads("head end"). On the whole, as in the first story, themes reflecting the search for a life purpose and the meaning of life predominate. For a very similar story, see the analysis of fig. 81.
Symptoms similar to Tanina's (with the exception of the attitude to the sexual sphere and the problem of the meaning of life) are found in the drawings of Anya K., 4 years 8 months old. For her age, Anya is very well developed. The non-existent animal depicted by her in terms of performance corresponds to the age of 6-7 years (Fig. 105).
Anya named her animal Galya and said that it lives in a zoo, in a cage. To prevent the cage from falling, it has props above and below. Anya also explained that "he has food there - hay, straw." When asked what Galya usually does, the answer was received: “He eats and sleeps. It still remembers how it lived with its parents, and does everything as they do.” It turned out that sometimes Galya goes out for a walk, and then returns to the cage.
In the drawing and the story, increased anxiety is manifested: the shading of the drawing, the desire to provide the animal with maximum safety (props) and a supply of food (two haystacks). Life in a cage (moreover, so carefully drawn) reflects both the need for security and the feeling of one's lack of freedom, dependence. The story directly indicates the source of this dependence: the patterns set by the parents ("does everything as they do"). For Anya's age, such topics are not typical, but in this case there is a combination of a faster pace of mental development with strong overprotection. Anya is the only child in a family that includes, in addition to her parents, her grandparents; all four adults actively participate in her upbringing.
The drawing of an angry and terrible animal showed acute anxiety, a neurotic reaction to an emotional load. This is evidenced by the complete decay of the form (Fig. 106).
Drawing vertical strokes, Anya says: “These are the teeth!”. About the animal she painted, she says: “He lives in the sea and eats everyone. No, he does not eat strong fish. Doesn't eat sharks. And he doesn't eat dolphins. When asked who this animal eats, the girl replies: “Small,” and shows with her hands a size of approximately 10 cm. In an effort to get away from the unpleasant, frightening image of an all-devouring creature, the action of mechanisms is manifested psychological protection.
The neurotic reaction to the emotional load is clearly manifested in the drawing of the most unfortunate animal. According to these instructions, Anya drew a "fish" that "lives in an aquarium" (Fig. 107).
In response to the question why this fish is unhappy, the girl explained: “For herself she is happy, but for us she is unhappy, because she swims in gas. If you swim in gas, you can die, but she doesn't know that."
In contrast to the drawing of an evil and terrible animal, this time depressive symptoms were clearly manifested: a decrease in the size of the drawing, the theme of death in the story. The emotional tension is very high, as evidenced by the chaotic lines and strokes in the drawing, the blackening of some of its sections (the pattern on the body of the fish, an unexplained spot next to it).
The data obtained allow us to conclude that Anya has a very low resistance to stress. Depending on the nature of stressful influences, neurotic reactions of various kinds can be expected: the appearance of either acute anxiety or depression. The probability of their combination is also very high - the occurrence of anxious depression.
The desire to isolate their animals from the outside world (cage, aquarium) and a neurotic reaction to aggressive topics serve as indirect indications of the fear of aggression. This assumption is confirmed by the parents' complaint that Anya does not communicate with other children at all. Having met with a peer, she begins to growl at him (claiming that she is a tiger cub), and if he still tries to make contact, she runs away. Generally speaking, game transformation into animals is absolutely normal and natural for Anya's age. However, in this case, playing tiger cub is clearly a means of preventing contact.
Parents are advised to gradually accustom Anya to independence and reduce the level of guardianship. It is also important to reduce the number of requirements for it. To overcome difficulties in contacts with peers, it is proposed to teach Anya to communicate with one or two partners during a game organized and directed by adults. It is explained that all educational activities should be carried out very carefully so as not to cause stress in the girl. For the same reason, no abrupt unprepared changes in her lifestyle are unacceptable. Emotional preparation for school is recommended to start very early and, despite the high level of development, not to send Anya to school until she is seven years old.
Consider another example that demonstrates a neurotic reaction to emotional stress. A non-existent animal, drawn by fifteen-year-old Nastya B., makes a favorable impression (Fig. 108). Somewhat alarming eyes with a large blackened iris, which often serve as a sign of fear.
The story written by Nastya about the way of life of the “nyavchik” is generally favorable: “He lives on the island of Nyau-Nyau, and this island was named so because the Nyavchiki living on it make such an affectionate and sweet sound - nyau-nyau. Nyavchik eats grass, flowers, but sometimes he eats fish, which looks like our sprat. Everything on their island is good, everything seems to calm down, all the names sound very sweet, but the bad thing is that not a single person can get to this island, but on the other hand it is very good, because it will not bring anything bad, worries, after all, nyavchiki do not hide from anyone, they live the way they want. I would like to be one of these nyavchiks ”(the story is given verbatim).
The main theme of Nastya's story is the need for comfort, emotional warmth and security. Apparently, the world is perceived by her as potentially hostile: a necessary condition for a peaceful life is the absence of people. The inaccessibility and isolation of the island also testify to the feeling of loneliness. The story speaks of the girl's passive position. In the figure, this theme is reflected by the absence of any organs that provide the possibility of communication or at least movement, as well as the isolation of the animal, which is characteristic of introverts.
The result of the "Angry Animal" test makes a much less favorable impression (Fig. 109).
The only thing that the girl said about this character is that he "eats different animals."
There is almost no symbolism of aggression in his image (there are only underlined teeth - a sign of verbal aggression). The signs of fear become much more pronounced than in the previous drawing (huge eyes with a very large blackened iris). Thick shading (blackening) of the teeth indicates that the topic of aggression, even purely verbal, causes high emotional tension.
Image eye blood vessels(as well as internal organs) - a common symptom neurotic reactions. Neuroticization also manifested itself in the image of an exclamation mark (top) that was not related in any way to the drawing itself, which was then crossed out, drawn again (partially) and crossed out again. All this indicates Nastya's low resistance to stress, her neurotic reaction to emotional stress.
A fundamentally different type of reaction to emotional stress is observed in thirty-seven-year-old Vladimir R. According to the standard instructions, he portrayed a “krakozyabra” (Fig. 110).
The animal is not original. If you do not know that this is a krakozyabr, then you could take it for a fox. Some asthenization appears in the figure: the lines are not brought to. end, the pressure is loosened. The description of the lifestyle is neutral (lives in forests and fields, hides in dens; comes to people to see how they live).
The drawing of an evil and terrible animal is made with a much firmer and more confident line, with strong pressure. All lines are completed (Fig. 111).
The increased size of the figure indicates the actualization of the alarm. However, this is not neurotic anxiety that destroys activity, as in the previously reviewed materials, but, on the contrary, sthenic mobilizing anxiety, which is an adequate, positive reaction to stress. Thus, Vladimir has a high resistance to stress; he is characterized by a sthenic reaction to emotional stress.
The main part of the picture is an open mouth with teeth. The teeth are also noted in the oral commentary: “Here is such a carnivorous devil. This is his neck here, and everything else is his teeth. It is anthropomorphic. It's terrible." Judging by these signs, Vladimir's response to the expected threat will most likely be verbal aggression.
A similar type of reaction to emotional stress, but in a specifically adolescent variant, is observed in the fourteen-year-old Dani P. According to the standard instructions, he depicted an animal called a fisherman cat (Fig. 112).
According to Dani, “it is specially adapted for catching fish: the tail is made in the form of a fishing net, and fishing hooks are hung on the paws and mustaches. He sees very well through the water and has a very good sense of smell for any fish and even some aquatic mammals.” Both in the drawing and in the story there are moderate manifestations of anxiety (correction of lines; the theme of especially good vision and smell). The overall picture is favorable.
In the "Evil Animal" test, Danya depicted a devil (Fig. 113).
Danya described this animal as follows: “Harmful. Smokes. Butts. Whoever he sees, he butts. And pricks with a pitchfork. When asked what it eats, the boy replied: “Whatever. Whom he caught or what he found, he will eat it.
The figure shows a high sthenicity (solid confident line). There is symbolism of both physical and verbal aggression (horns, pitchforks, bared teeth, aggressive themes in the story: “butting”, “pricking with pitchforks”), however, the level of aggressiveness does not exceed the norm for Danya’s sex and age. The specific feature of the drawing is negativistic symbolism. These include: character selection (hell), cigarette in mouth, description causeless aggression (“whoever he sees, he butts”), an indication that the animal is “harmful”.
All this gives grounds to believe that in a conflict situation Danya will implement negative forms of behavior. In adolescence, this is a fairly common occurrence. In this case, negative tendencies manifested themselves only in the drawing of an evil and terrible animal. This suggests that in the absence of conflict and emotional load, the manifestation of negativism in Danya is unlikely.
Signs of a possible mental pathology
The following are some of the signs that make it possible to suspect that the subject mental illness. None of them, taken in isolation, can serve as a basis for such an assumption. It can be done only if there are several such signs at the same time, and they are quite strongly expressed.
The animal depicted by twelve-year-old Sergei B. is humanoid (Fig. 114), which is quite common for this age. At the same time, the shape of the head is grossly distorted in comparison with the standard scheme. head shape distortion as well as lack of head or, as in this case, lack of eyes while maintaining the general scheme of a person or animal, it is often found in mental illness.
The animal is depicted as if in a section or in the form of an X-ray photograph: according to Seryozha, “the brain, muscles, bones, intestines, all sorts of disgusting things” are visible. The image of the internal organs can also be found in a borderline state (neurosis), however, such a detailed study of them, and especially the image brain more likely in mental illness.
In the story about the animal, Seryozha said that it "lives in the forests, where you can hide from opponents." When asked who his opponents were, he replied: “People. Or rather, he is their opponent. The next question was asked about what this animal usually does. “He eats all sorts of people,” said Seryozha. - Engaged in hunting for large living creatures, for a person, for example. A cruel killer: he kills no matter who - and eats. It turned out that this animal thinks about "who else to eat, where to organize an ambush." Answering the question of what this animal could ask the magician for, Seryozha said that it would “eat the magician”, “wants not to be killed” and “to kill more itself”.
The story has an exceptionally strong "stuck" on the topic of murder And devouring victims, first of all people. This may be a manifestation attraction distortions, characteristic of some mental illnesses. From this point of view, the discrepancy between the roughly aggressive theme of the story and the lack of pronounced aggressive symbolism in the drawing is especially suspicious. Normal aggression associated with immediate emotional impulses is usually much more pronounced in graphic symbols.
The possibility of mental illness is also discussed gross violations of logic in a story about an animal. Life "in the forests where you can hide from opponents" contradicts the main occupation of the animal - hunting for people. Eating a wizard makes it meaningless to address him with subsequent requests (“so that he is not killed” and “to kill more yourself”).
The presence of a mental illness in Serezha was confirmed by other data from a psychological examination and a subsequent psychiatric examination.
The animal, depicted according to the standard instructions by the fifteen-year-old Andrei R. and called by him “half-human” (Fig. 115), produces a rather unpleasant impression, which is an unfavorable sign (although such an assessment is very subjective).
There is a pronounced aggressive symbolism: something like sharp claws instead of hands. However, the drawing does not contain obvious signs of pathology.
The boy's description of the animal is also fairly neutral: “Half-human. Lives on other planets. It feeds on microorganisms. Friends are creatures like themselves. At the request to explain the individual details of the image, Andrey pointed to a large claw with the words: "Such a hand is a way of protection." When asked if the demihuman had enemies, the answer was negative. Then the question was asked, from whom he needs to defend himself, to which the boy replied: “You never know who will fly from another planet.”
The presence of a claw, necessary for protection, contradicts the assertion that the animal has no enemies (the explanation of a possible invasion from another planet is given only after a special question from the inspector and sounds unconvincing). However, this cannot be considered a particularly gross logical contradiction that would suggest the presence of a mental illness.
The emotional load caused by the task to invent and draw the most unfortunate animal led to significant impairment of activity. The drawing made according to this instruction remained unfinished with an open circuit (Fig. 116).
In the process of drawing, there were sharp emotional swings, reflected in very different character lines. The body, eyes and mouth are drawn with a confident line with strong pressure. The arms are also partially drawn with strong pressure, but the line is uncertain (with numerous corrections). The head, neck and part of the arm are drawn with a very uncertain, in some places disappearing line with especially weak pressure. The number of details is minimal, but in contrast to this, the knuckles are drawn (a detail that is very rare).
Such a strong reaction to the emotional load speaks of Andrey's unfavorable psychological state. An unfavorable sign is also an almost disappearing distorted contour of the head, especially in combination with sharply emphasized empty eyes and mouth, so that the whole face resembles a skull.
Andrei wrote the following story about the unfortunate animal (the text is reproduced with spelling errors made by the boy): “Mutant. A man of a post-nuclear civilization with degraded thinking. He sees an almost ordinary way of life of a person, but with the habits of an animal. Friends are people. Has immeasurable muscle mass. When asked what his “unhappiness” consisted of, the boy replied: “His appearance upsets him. Not like people, changed. People treat him differently." Then the question was asked, what are the "habits of the animal", about which he wrote in the story. Andrei replied: “Maybe climb a tree. Sometimes he thinks about one thing, and then switches to another. Forgetting something."
Themes change animal, strange attitude surrounding (“people treat differently”) and mental disorders (degraded thinking, unmotivated switching of the direction of thoughts, forgetting) are often found in process mental illness. The previously noted signs of a high emotional load when depicting a head echo the theme of degraded thinking. Also typical of mental illness inaccuracy in the use of concepts, in this case, manifested in the fact that “animal habits” include such manifestations as “thinks about one thing and switches to another”, “forgets”.
The presence of a mental illness in Andrei was confirmed by a subsequent psychiatric examination.
The drawing, made according to standard instructions by sixteen-year-old Pavel P., is not completed. It represents a three-eyed bird's head with a long sharp beak (aggressive symbolism). The head is located on a very long neck with detailed vertebrae. The contour is not closed (Fig. 117).
The story written by Pavel is very short and almost does not refer to the depicted animal: “He has hearing aids, he listens with them, he is blind. Everything that the imagination creates is strange, like fantasy.
Warning signs in the drawing are its incompleteness and the image of the internal organs (vertebrae). The story shows actual leaving the task: instead of describing the way of life of an animal, Paul expounds his views on the nature of images created by the imagination. It is also a bad sign conflict between drawing and story(the picture shows several eyes, and the story says that the animal is blind).
More obvious signs of pathology appear in the drawing of an evil and terrible animal (Fig. 118).
The most unfavorable impression lack of head in an image that is otherwise fully consistent with the standard outline of the animal. In a story about this animal, Paul wrote: “This is an animal from another world - the world of monsters. Seems harmless... But... It can stun sound wave any moving object. After that, small tentacles suck out all living tissues and organs from the body. At the sight of a person, it barks like a dog, and then ... Aliluya! .. ”.
The sucking out of "living tissues and organs" as a way of nutrition is a sign of a disturbed psychological state (pathological or borderline). As already mentioned, such signs include the discrepancy between the high aggressiveness of the story and the absence of pronounced aggressive symbolism in the drawing. The message that at the sight of a person this animal “barks like a dog” completely falls out of the general context of the story.
All these signs in the aggregate are too numerous and heterogeneous to be explained only by a borderline (neurotic) state. One possible explanation is the combination of a neurotic state with a psychopathic personality. Another likely explanation is the presence of mental illness.
Pronounced signs of mental illness (in the acute phase) are observed in the drawing of twelve-year-old David G. (Fig. 119).
The animal depicted by him is devoid of a head (the head is almost completely absent in the person painted by him - see analysis of Fig. 67). The paws of the animal are pierced with arrows in several places. Apparently, this reflects the extremely difficult self-perception of the boy. Anyway, picture wounds and injuries is one of the most common signs of mental illness. The graphic features of the drawing also testify to the acuteness of David's condition: hatching with especially strong pressure, blackening of individual parts of the image.
In the process of drawing, David was completely immersed in the activity, but at the verbal level, contact with him remained limited. He refused to tell anything about the animal he invented and did not even come up with a name for it.
A huge wound is the center of the drawing of fourteen-year-old Viti K. (Fig. 120). The commentary he wrote also refers only to this wound, although he was asked to write the name of the animal and describe its lifestyle. The text is very brief and emotionally extremely unpleasant: "The stomach was cut open, but it is alive, blood flows out of it." Thus, the text contains an indication that the source of the wound is someone's actions ("the stomach was cut open"). It is possible that this reflects the boy's pathological ideas about the hostility of others towards him (perhaps the ideas of persecution).
The drawing is not completed. The lines are "torn", in some places with strong pressure, and in some places disappearing. The drawing is poorly placed: it seems to go beyond the bottom edge of the sheet. Along with meaningful indicators, this is a sign of the severity of the condition. Eyes located outside the face are also an unfavorable sign.
Fifteen-year-old Dima L. drew Cheburashka according to the standard instructions (Fig. 121). In the description of his lifestyle, the situation of the famous cartoon is fully reproduced: “Cheburashka. Lives in an apartment on the next street. Eats dairy products and citrus fruits. His best friend crocodile Gena, and his enemy is the nasty grandmother Shapoklyak.
Thus, Dima was unable to follow the instructions, which directly stated that the animal should not be taken from the cartoon. In addition, for a fifteen-year-old, the choice of character is clearly infantile. Of the graphic features of the drawing, the rough asymmetry of the eyes and the distortion of the shape of one of them, which led to its merger with the nose, serve as warning signs. Eye shape distortion with general adherence to the standard scheme of an animal or a person, it is quite widespread in mental disorders.
Violation of instructions like infantilism, can be explained equally by both mental illness and intellectual decline. However, the second of these possible explanations is completely refuted by the results of Dima's implementation of the "Evil Animal" technique (Fig. 122).
The animal depicted by the boy this time is quite original. The drawing contains a number of signs characteristic of a mental illness: a combination of a standard scheme of a human face with a detail that grossly contradicts it: a hand growing right above the eye; gross asymmetry of the eyes, the exit of one of them beyond the face; a detailed image of the blood vessels of the eye (a sign also found in neuroticism); image of a scar (interpreted in the same way as a wound or injury).
It can be assumed that Dima, sensing the abnormality of his mental state, tried to hide it from the examiner. Performing the task according to standard instructions, he used the simplest way to avoid showing the pathological products of his imagination: he reproduced a well-known pattern. The task to draw an "evil and terrible" animal led to an increase in emotional stress and, as a result, to a loss of control "over the products issued. Therefore, pathological symptoms were clearly manifested in the drawing.
Comprehensive analysis of drawings of non-existent animals
The procedure for a comprehensive analysis of drawings of a simply non-existent animal, as well as the most evil and terrible, the happiest and most unfortunate non-existent animals, is analyzed using two examples.
On fig. 123 shows the result of twenty-year-old Ulyana V. completing a task according to standard instructions.
Ulyana accompanied the drawing with the following story about her animal: “This is a dragonsaurus. Lives in the desert and mountains. Can fly, run and crawl. It feeds on cacti and small animals. Horns - to defend against enemies, tail - for beauty and to hide behind it. He loves to soar in the clouds, rushing from the top of the mountain, spreading his tail.
The peacock tail "for beauty", like any jewelry, is a manifestation of demonstrativeness. In this case, it also serves to "hide behind him." In combination with the horns, which are needed "to defend against enemies," this indicates a fear of aggression. Since no specific enemies are named, we are talking rather than about specific fears, but in general about the fear of communication, conflicts, etc., i.e., increased shyness. The horns are pointed; in addition, small claws are depicted - signs of some aggressiveness that does not go beyond the normal level. Apparently, it has a protective nature.
Animals with wings often found in people with a highly developed defensive fantasizing, who tend to indulge in dreams, "hover in the clouds." In this case, this is especially emphasized in the description of the animal's lifestyle: its favorite pastime is "soaring in the clouds." Defensive fantasizing is a withdrawal into the world of imagination from the problems that a person faces. In reality, such people are usually passive, somewhat infantile.
Reality seems to Ulyana difficult and unpleasant, which leads to the need to escape from reality into fantasy. This is evidenced by the uncomfortable, difficult terrain in which the dragonsaurus lives (desert and mountains), as well as the prickly and tough food that it feeds on (cacti).
Ulyana depicted a hedgehog-lion as an evil and terrible animal (Fig. 124).
About his lifestyle, she wrote: “The lion hedgehog lives in the desert or in the tundra, eats everything that comes across, likes to attack and stab everyone, and also, if touched, stings painfully, drinks blood and bites. He loves no one and knows nothing, always angry and dissatisfied with everything. He tries to be in the sun, in the rays of bright light, in order to scare everyone away with shiny needles sticking out of his body.
This drawing confirms the assumption about Ulyana's characteristic defensive aggression (her typical symbol is needles, like a hedgehog). The theme of scaring others is also typical for people with a fear of aggression and the desire to protect themselves from it by aggressive means. The level of aggressiveness, as in the previous figure, is moderate, not at all beyond the norm. The protruding tongue, combined with an indication that the animal “likes to attack and stab everyone,” suggests negative reactions in conflict situations.
Negativism at the age of twenty is a manifestation of infantilism, since it is normally characteristic of adolescence. The indication that the hedgehog-lion is always “angry and dissatisfied with everything” indicates that in an emotionally stressful situation, Uliana may also be characterized by dysphoric manifestations.
The place of life of the animal is the desert, like last time, and even more uncomfortable tundra.
The "most unfortunate" animal depicted by Ulyana is a mixture of jellyfish and crab (Fig. 125).
The drawing is accompanied by the following story: “The most unfortunate creature is a mixture of jellyfish and crab. Lives at the bottom of the sea or swamp under a snag, eats fish, only watches everyone and is sad, rarely crawling out of its hole. It is very old."
In addition to the dysphoric themes that appeared in the previous task, there are purely depressive themes here: constant sadness, old age. The presence of depressive tendencies is also evidenced by the reduced size of the drawing, as well as the emphasized sad expression of the “face” of the animal. The theme of the hostile environment here, compared with previous
drawings, additionally reinforced (lives "at the bottom of the swamp").
Passivity, which was indirectly evidenced by some features of the performance of the first of the tasks, now manifested itself in a direct form: the "unfortunate" animal "only watches everyone, rarely crawling out of its hole." Ulyana associates passivity with unhappiness. Consequently, Ulyana suffers from the feeling of her passivity, perceives it as a source of unpleasant experiences. The reason for the "unhappiness" of the animal is in itself, and not in the external conditions of its life. This indicates that the main difficulty for the girl is overcoming her own conditions and personal characteristics, and not external circumstances.
The happiest animal (Fig. 126) was left unnamed by Ulyana. The story about him says: “This is the happiest creature. Lives on land and under water. It feeds on algae or flies (catches them with suckers). Likes to walk upside down and on the ceiling.
A happy animal is distinguished by the absence of any protective accessories (the unfortunate animal also lacked external protective accessories, but there this function was performed by the snag under which it lives). Apparently, one of the conditions for happiness for Ulyana is the absence of the need to defend herself. Another feature of this animal is its love for walking “upside down and along the ceiling” (in the figure, this corresponds to the location of the legs not from below, but from above). Walking upside down is a symbol of breaking the routine, going beyond ordinary standards. It can be assumed that they are a burden to Ulyana and therefore overcoming them is perceived by her as happiness. This echoes the latent negativism noted above, confirming the assumption that the girl has not yet outlived the manifestations of the teenage crisis.
This example is interesting in that each of the non-existent animals depicted by Ulyana, taken separately, is rather little informative. However, a comprehensive analysis makes it possible to obtain a completely meaningful “psychological portrait” of a girl. We see that she has a high need for attention to herself (demonstrativeness). The satisfaction of this need is hindered by the fear of hostile actions on the part of others, leading to isolation, avoidance of communication. As a result, reality seems to Ulyana uncomfortable, difficult for life. As a psychological defense, compensatory fantasizing, flight into dreams is used. This further reduces the activity in relations with others. Uliana perceives her own passivity as one of the main sources of her problems, but sees no way to overcome it.
The girl is infantile, she has some tendencies typical of adolescence. This is the desire to overcome generally accepted standards of behavior, external restrictions; in conflict situations, one can expect the appearance of negative reactions. Emotional load can lead to dysphoric manifestations (that is, to a gloomy-irritable mood), and when it intensifies, to a depressive state.
Ulyana's complaints relate mainly to communication problems. She notes that she feels like a "black sheep" who does not know how to find a common language with people.
The given psychological portrait of Ulyana shows that in order to overcome psychological difficulties, one can rely on her tendency to fantasize (that is, on the defense mechanism she already has). On this basis, it is necessary to develop a truly creative activity that will increase the overall level of activity and give a productive outlet to the girl's experiences. This activity should be carried out in collective forms, being the bridge that will allow restoring broken interpersonal contacts.
As the next example, consider the performance of tasks by eleven-year-old Vova G. According to the standard instructions, he depicted a “cube fish” (Fig. 127). On the left, on the stems, she has “eyes that can move in any direction”, two outgrowths on the right form a mouth, the remaining six outgrowths (three at the top and bottom) are tentacles. The body is cubic because it has a "cube inside".
Vova wrote the following story about his animal: “This animal lives under water. Its size is only one centimeter. It feeds on small fish. It doesn't smell because it doesn't have a nose. It lives alone. There is a legend that it once swallowed a cube. It is the color of a stone, so it can hide and wait for the fish to swim up and suck it. It is not warm-blooded." When asked if the cubic fish has enemies, Vova replies: “For example, a big fish can swallow it when it hunts for small ones. And so she hides, she is not visible. The first of the three requests to the wizard is “that the die should not be inside. He interferes. Once it was not, and it was more convenient for her. The second wish is "for her to have a mouth, nose and ears". And the third wish is "that she could fly in order to look at the world." The most specific feature of Vova's drawing is the strictly rectangular (almost square) torso of the animal. Such forms are typical for people with low conformity, with a schizoid personality. This interpretation is also supported by the low detail of the drawing. Indications of the similarity of the animal with a stone and the fact that “it is not warm-blooded” also speak of the feeling of detachment, their dissimilarity with others, and reduced emotionality, characteristic of schizoids. This feeling is also manifested in the desire to humanize the animal, providing it with a mouth, nose and ears. Similar feeling of being unique And the desire to become "like everyone else" often manifested in attributing a desire to a fictional animal "to become an ordinary animal" or "to become human".
The desire to have a mouth contradicts the fact that one already exists (it is formed by two outgrowths on the right). Either Vova forgot about it while inventing the desires of the animal, or it is about the desire to have a mouth more like a human one. In any case, such a contradiction speaks of impulsiveness, insufficient control.
In the fact that the animal lives alone, the introversion characteristic of schizoids manifested itself. The limbs of the animal (tentacles) are curved and intertwined in such a way that it is difficult to determine the direction in which they are going. In combination with eyes set far forward and capable of “moving in any direction”, this indicates caution and high selectivity in contacts.
Topic foreign body, inside (swallowed cube), can reflect either unpleasant physical sensations or emotional discomfort caused by feeling internal disharmony. In this case, the second explanation is more likely, since both the drawing and the story lack themes associated with any physical sensations, internal organs, etc.
The desire to “fly, look at the world” reflects curiosity, a cognitive orientation. Taking into account the high originality of the animal, we can say that Vova has good creative abilities. They also manifested themselves in the artistic approach to constructing a story about an animal (“there is a legend that…”).
The “evil and terrible” animal depicted by Vova is shown in fig. 128. Regarding the outgrowths on top, Vova explained that “these are things that can move; fire flies out of them. The circle in the center of the body is "the same thing, only it is in front." The bottom of the animal has two legs. On the right and on the left - two outgrowths, which are “both like fins and like wings; You can swim, or you can fly. When asked what is the manifestation of the fact that this animal is evil and terrible, the boy replied: “It can defend itself with fire. There will be fire everywhere, and no one will be able to touch it.” In response to the question of what it eats, he said: "Nothing."
Both the drawing and the description do not contain aggressive symbolism at all. This allows us to say that the level of Vova's aggressiveness is lower than the norm for his gender and age. The reaction to the emotional load is favorable (the drawing is clearly organized, almost completely devoid of
signs of anxiety). The image of identical organs (in this case, “things” from which “fire flies”) from different angles is a highly original technique that confirms the assumption about the boy’s creative abilities. The animal is devoid of any sense organs, as well as a mouth (which corresponds to the statement that it does not eat anything). This is a continuation of the theme that sounded in the desire of a simply non-existent animal to have a mouth, nose and ears. The complete absence of sense organs and communication is a sign of possible autism.
"Fins", they are also "wings", are depicted in a completely different way, as they are usually drawn. Without explanation, it would be impossible to understand their purpose. This indicates low conformity, lack of knowledge of norms (probably not only pictorial, but also others). In addition, it is doubtful that such wings can be used to fly (they are obviously too narrow). Consequently, Vova does not have enough control over his activities and correlates his constructions with reality.
Vova depicted a stone as the most unfortunate animal (Fig. 129), explaining: "A stone that cannot do anything." In this figure, schizoidness manifests itself with extreme brightness. He is a completely closed figure (a sign of introversion), devoid of any internal structure (a sign of autism). Thus, the aggravation of his personality traits serves as a symbol of "unhappiness" for Vova. The minimization of resemblance to an animal or a person makes it doubtful that Vova is at least partially identified with the animal he depicts. He probably
does not feel unhappy, but in the image of this character he conveyed not so much his immediate feelings as rational fears. The wording "can't do anything" also reflects not the current state (in this case, it would rather be "doing nothing"), but speculative fears of being in a situation of forced passivity.
The sharply reduced size of the picture suggests that Vova (like Uliana) may have depressive reactions under high emotional stress.
Vova prefaced the drawing of the happiest animal with an extremely non-standard question: “Does it have to be happy or does it have to look happy?” Having received the answer that it should be happy, he depicted a humanoid animal, calling him Uncle Styopa (Fig. 130).
Describing him, he said that “this is a man with wings. Uncle Styopa with wings. It is big. Can fly, look at everything. Has fins - can swim.
The human nature of a happy animal, especially in contrast to the unfortunate one, confirms the assumption made above that Vova experiences unpleasant experiences in connection with the feeling of being different from others, that he would like to be “like everyone else”.
The wings in this case serve to “fly and look at everything”, and not to “soar in the clouds”, like the Ulyana animal. Therefore, they are interpreted differently: not as a manifestation of a propensity for defensive fantasizing, but as an indicator of a high cognitive orientation. This conclusion has already been made before, based on one of the desires of a simply non-existent animal, which is actually duplicated by the ability of a happy animal to "fly and look at everything."
In the question of whether the animal should really be happy or only look like that, the habit of controlling its emotional manifestations manifested itself. Especially Long neck also interpreted as an indication of a trend towards intelligent control, however, it says nothing about how successful this control is. In the analysis of previous drawings, there were signs that he was not successful enough. When performing this task, the lack of effectiveness of control also manifested itself: the drawing lacks the fins mentioned in the description of the animal. If we consider the upper limbs as fins, then there are no hands, the presence of which is implicitly assumed in the statement that Uncle Styopa is a man (albeit winged).
Vova is a very peculiar boy with a high creative potential and an unconventional approach to the world. Apparently, he has a schizoid accentuation. Possible violations of communication, difficulties of socialization. In emotionally stressful situations, depressive tendencies may appear, autism, self-isolation are possible. Intellectual control acts as a compensatory mechanism, but it is not effective enough for Vova.
Vova was brought in for a consultation with complaints of behavioral disorders, “arrogance” and “arrogance” in communicating with adults, and a lack of contacts with peers. Initially, Vova studied at an ordinary public school, but soon the administration began to insist on transferring him to a school for children with behavioral disorders. The problem was solved in a different way: according to the test results, the boy was accepted to study under the program for gifted children. As part of this program, teachers treat difficulties in his behavior more tolerantly.
The results of the psychological examination make it possible to explain Vova's negative behavioral manifestations by his lack of socialization and poor mastery of social norms. Recommended psycho-correctional work aimed at socialization. It is necessary to use the high general level of the boy's development and his tendency to intellectual control. As the main means, it can be proposed that Vova develop effective ways of conscious control of his behavior.
Among the many psychological methods for studying personality, the projective method "Non-existent animal" occupies a special place. This is due to the fact that its interpretation provides extensive information about the individual while spending a minimum amount of time to complete the task. The test is not only simple, but also very interesting, available to both adults and children.
Author Arne OlavThe test was created by the domestic psychologist M. Z. Dukarevich, based on the characteristics of psychomotor communication. When a person draws, a sheet of paper at that time is a special model of space in which, with the help of movements of the dominant (for most people, the right) hand, the attitude to this space is fixed, following the words of I. M. Sechenov that any thought ends with movement.
The main goal of the technique is a general study of personality, on the basis of which the psychologist puts forward a hypothesis about some of its features, in no case making unambiguous conclusions about a person without a comprehensive diagnosis.
The non-existent animal test begins with a simple instruction: “Take a sheet of paper, a simple pencil and draw a non-existent animal, one that does not really exist and has never been on the planet. Call him a name that doesn't exist."
There is no time limit for drawing. Sometimes people refuse to take the test, explaining their refusal by the inability to draw. In this case, it is important to explain that the psychologist does not evaluate artistic abilities, that the test has a deeper psychological meaning than just the ability to draw beautifully.
The “Non-existent animal” technique is easy to perform, because drawing an unusual non-existent animal is not only simple, but also exciting. But its interpretation requires deep knowledge of human psychology. If you want to get a high-quality reliable result after you complete the test, use the basic rules for interpreting it:
The arrangement of the drawing on paper.
Normally, the drawing is located in the middle part of the sheet, which is in a vertical position. If the drawing is located at the top of the sheet, this indicates high self-esteem and dissatisfaction with one's role in society, where a person feels a lack of recognition. The lower the drawing is on paper, the lower it is. Such a person is unsure of himself, he does not care about the recognition of social status.
The main part of the drawing.
- The head looks to the right - an active and decisive person, brings things to the end, implements his plans.
- The head looks to the left - a person is prone to introspection and reflection. He thinks more than he does, instead of concrete actions, he prefers deep reflections about them.
- The head "looks" forward, at the painter - evidence of egocentrism. If there are sense organs on the head - eyes, ears, mouth, then this indicates the importance of information, dependence on someone else's opinion.
- An open mouth and tongue, but no lips, can mean high verbal activity, and even talkativeness. The presence of lips speaks of sensuality. An open mouth without lips and tongue speaks of a tendency to anxieties and fears, of distrust. In children and adolescents, you can see a crossed-out round mouth, which indicates fear and anxiety.
- The presence of teeth indicates verbal aggression, which is used as a defense in the form of a rude response to censure or condemnation.
- The eyes play an important role. They are a symbol of fear if a person clearly draws the iris. The presence of eyelashes speaks of a demonstrative personality, a desire to attract someone else's attention to oneself with one's beauty and manners, and in men it is an indicator of feminine character traits.
- You should pay attention to the size of the head: if it is drawn disproportionately to the body, then a person appreciates intelligence and rationality.
- Horns, claws, needles on the skin of an animal speak of aggression, protective or spontaneous. Feathers on the body of an animal are an indicator of demonstrativeness and narcissism. Wool or mane speaks of sexuality and the desire to emphasize one's gender.
The bottom of the drawing.
- The legs (paws) of the animal are measured by size relative to the body of the animal. If the legs are large and large, then this indicates rationality, deliberation in, the formation of plans and clear structures before performing an action. Small short legs speak of impulsiveness and frivolity in decision making. Especially these qualities can be emphasized if the legs are completely absent in the figure.
- It is worth paying attention to the nature of the connection of the legs with the body. If the connection is fuzzy and insufficient, then the person himself is rather careless, inattentive, does not control his judgments enough.
- The direction of the legs in one direction and their uniformity speak of conformity, stereotyping and banality of judgments. The diversity of form suggests the opposite: a person is prone to originality and originality.
Additional drawing details.
These are wings, feathers, bows, one more legs or paws, curls, flowers and various other decorating details. All these features speak of self-confidence, a high level of energy that a person knows how to distribute in different areas of activity. Sometimes this translates into oppression of other people, about making the focus only on their own personality. It can be a person who is passionate about his profession, striving for self-realization.
The presence of a tail indicates the attitude to one's own decisions and actions, to the products of one's activity. Tail pointing to the right - attitude to actions, behavior. Tail pointing to the left - attitude to thoughts and possibilities. The direction of the tail up or down indicates the person's perception of this relationship: up - positive, down - negative.
Drawing outline.
Author Arne Olav The presence of shells, protrusions, darkening, drawing clear lines is analyzed. These details indicate a desire to protect themselves from other people. If there are sharp corners - this is an aggressive defense, if there are blackouts - there is anxiety and fear, if the line is double - there is suspicion and a sense of danger.
Animal type.
You can conditionally divide animals into:
- threatening
- threatened
- and neutral (respectively, similar to a lion, a hare or a dog).
The choice of the type of animal speaks of the attitude towards one's own personality, towards one's "I". A person chooses the type of animal with which he identifies himself. If the animal is “humanized”, in clothes, with two paws, upright, with hands instead of paws, then this indicates the infantility and immaturity of the author’s emotional sphere.
Name of the drawing.
There are six main types of names for a non-existent animal:
- connecting semantic parts (“cat laugh”, “zaytsezher”) - speak of rationality and adaptability;
- close to scientific (“tridericus”, “claynolius”) - they say demonstrative;
- superficial and meaningless (“lalasa”, “mrama”) - about frivolity and negligence;
- humorous (“bubble”, “churunda”) - about a condescending attitude towards others;
- simple (“la-la”, “sim-sim”) - about infantilism;
- elongated (“pratomina-karosa”) - about a tendency to fantasize.
The drawing test "Non-existent animal" is a popular technique that allows you to better understand the personality traits of a person, to reveal hidden emotions. Can be used with children over six years old. This technique works well with teenagers and adults. The technique is quite simple in execution, but it is highly effective.
Test Requirements
For this diagnostic technique, you will need an A4 sheet, a pencil and an eraser. It is better to refuse the use of felt-tip pens and pens, because. in this case, it will be difficult to assess the degree of pressure when drawing lines. It is not recommended to test a person without first obtaining his consent. Coercion in this case is unacceptable.
In the course of the projective technique "Non-existent animal", a person is given the task to draw a creature that has no analogues in nature. The image should not be schematic. High detail of the picture contributes to a more productive interpretation. After the drawing is ready, the author must give a name to the drawn creature.
Before proceeding to the interpretation, a number of clarifying questions are asked to the person. Their goal is to clarify things that are not obvious. For example, to find out what the creature eats? What do the details of the drawing mean (points on the body, spikes, etc.)? How does the animal spend its time? What do you like and dislike? This information will provide important clarifications needed for further analysis.
Interpretation of the test "Non-existent animal"
What does the name say? Usually, it is analyzed based on the following criteria:
scientific or pseudoscientific name of an animal - a demonstration by a person of his intellectual potential (rational type of thinking);
name with repeated syllables - immaturity in development ( creative thinking);
a name that is not logically related to an animal - superficiality, a frivolous attitude to reality (abstract thinking).
The location of the drawing. Normally, the animal is located in the middle of the sheet. The shift of the picture upwards indicates a high self-esteem of a person, a desire for recognition. Location below - reflects indecision, depression, anxiety. Shift to the left - aspiration to the past, unwillingness to make efforts to achieve a result. The drawing on the right side of the sheet is an active life position, a look into the future.
Image features.
Weak pressure on the pencil indicates passivity, sometimes a depressive state, while too much pressure indicates internal tension, impulsiveness. Dashed lines indicate anxiety as a personality trait of the subject. And multiple lines - anxiety at the time of the examination. Sketchy lines speak of the desire to control one's anxiety, to keep oneself in hand. Missing lines that do not fall into the right point indicate impulsivity, possibly an organic brain lesion.
The size of the picture can also tell a lot. An animal that is too large can be a sign of anxiety, a stressful condition, and too small - about depression or low self-esteem.
Head. The location of the animal's head can be interpreted in a similar way: raised up, lowered down, turned left / right. The head, enlarged in size, speaks of the assessment of the erudition of oneself and others. The absence of a head indicates a person's impulsiveness. In some cases, about mental illness. Several heads - conflicting desires, internal conflict.
Ears. When analyzing a non-existent animal, the nature of the ears (thoroughness of drawing, size, etc.) makes it possible to judge how much a person is interested in information.
Too large eyes, empty eyes or eyes with a crossed out iris indicate the presence of fears. Eyes with traced eyelashes are depicted by people with a demonstrative demeanor, for whom the opinion of others is very important.
A parted mouth in combination with the tongue speaks of high speech activity, in combination with well-drawn lips - of a person's sensuality. A mouth with teeth and fangs is a sign of verbal aggression, in some cases defensive. An open blackened mouth is a sign of the ease of fear and anxiety.
Feathers are drawn by people who tend to embellish everything, horns - people prone to aggression or protection, a mane or some kind of hairstyle - sensual natures who want to emphasize their gender, scales and shells - people in need of protection, wounds, scars - people in a neurotic state, embedded mechanical parts - people with communication problems, wings - romantics, dreamers,
Legs. A strong supporting part is self-confidence, rationality, firmness in decision-making. The thin legs of the animal testify to the reverse qualities of the personality: possible uncertainty, inconsistency, the predominance of creativity.
Body. Consisting of many components and elements indicates the powerful energy of the individual, and a small number of components - energy savings, asthenia. The image of a circular figure is typical for closed, closed people. A large number of sharp corners indicates aggressiveness.
Tail. A raised tail shows a positive attitude towards one's thoughts and actions, while a lowered one, on the contrary. A thick, carefully traced tail speaks of the importance of the sexual sphere for a person, a decorative tail with many details speaks of the demonstrative personality.
The theme of the drawing is an important component that you need to pay attention to. As part of the test, all depicted creatures can be divided into three groups:
vulnerable ¬ animals that are most often endangered in nature (birds, insects, small rodents, etc.);
threatening animals - images with emphasized aggressiveness. In nature, these are usually predators;
neutral - these are pets, a representative of the water world, etc.
Drawing a creature belonging to one of the presented groups, a person associates his personal "I" with the attributes of this animal.
The position of the picture on the sheet
Normally, the pattern is located along the midline of a vertically set sheet.
The position of the drawing is closer to the top edge of the sheet (the closer, the more pronounced) is interpreted as high self-esteem, as dissatisfaction with one's position in society, lack of recognition from others, as a claim for promotion and recognition, a tendency to self-affirmation.
The position of the picture in the lower part is the reverse trend: self-doubt, low self-esteem, depression, indecision, disinterest in one's position in society, in recognition, lack of a tendency to self-affirmation.
The central semantic part of the figure (the head or its replacement part)
The head is turned to the right - a steady tendency towards activity, efficiency: almost everything that is thought about, planned, carried out, or at least begins to be carried out (if not even brought to an end). The subject actively proceeds to the implementation of his plans, inclinations.
The head is turned to the left - a tendency to reflection, to reflection. This is not a man of action: only an insignificant part of the plans is realized or at least begins to be realized. Fear of active action and indecision are also not uncommon. (The option - lack of a tendency to act or fear of activity - should be decided additionally.)
The full-face position, i.e., the head is directed at the painter (at himself), is interpreted as egocentrism.
On the head are details corresponding to the sense organs - ears, mouth, eyes.
The meaning of the detail "ears" is direct: interest in information, the significance of the opinions of others about oneself.
Additionally, according to other indicators and their combination, it is determined whether the subject is doing something to win a positive assessment or only produces appropriate emotional reactions (joy, pride, resentment, chagrin) to the assessments of others without changing his behavior.
A slightly open mouth in combination with the tongue in the absence of lips is interpreted as a great speech activity (talkiness), in combination with lips drawing - as sensuality; sometimes both together. An open mouth without drawing the tongue and lips, especially a drawn one, is interpreted as the ease of fears and fears, mistrust. Mouth with teeth - verbal aggression, in most cases - protective (snarls, bullies, is rude in response to addressing him with condemnation, censure). For children and adolescents, a pattern of a drawn round mouth is characteristic (fearfulness, anxiety).
The eyes are of particular importance. This symbol of the inherent experience of fear is emphasized by the sharp drawing of the iris. Pay attention to the presence or absence of eyelashes. Eyelashes - hysteroid-demonstrative behavior. Regarding men: feminine character traits rarely coincide with the drawing of the pupil and iris.
Eyelashes - also an interest in the admiration of others by the external beauty and manner of dressing, attaching great importance to this.
The enlarged (in accordance with the figure as a whole) head size indicates that the subject appreciates the rational principle (perhaps erudition) in himself and those around him.
Additional details are also located on the head, for example, horns - protection, aggression. Determine by combination with other signs - claws, bristles, needles - the nature of this aggression: spontaneous or defensive-response.
Feathers - a tendency to self-decoration and self-justification, to demonstrativeness.
Mane, hair, a semblance of a hairstyle - sensuality, emphasizing one's gender and sometimes orientation to one's sexual role.
Bearing, supporting part of the figure (legs, paws, sometimes a pedestal)
The solidity of this part is considered in relation to the size of the whole figure and in shape:
1) thoroughness, deliberation, rationality of decision-making, ways to conclusions, formation of judgment, reliance on significant provisions and significant information;
2) superficiality of judgments, frivolity in conclusions and groundlessness of judgments, sometimes impulsiveness in decision-making (especially in the absence of legs).
It is necessary to pay attention to the nature of the connection of the legs with the body: the connection is accurate, carefully or carelessly, weakly connected or not connected at all - this is the nature of control over one's judgments, conclusions, decisions.
Uniformity and unidirectional shape of the legs, paws, any elements of the supporting part - the conformity of judgments and attitudes in decision-making, their standardity, banality.
Variety in the form and position of these details - the originality of attitudes and judgments, independence and non-banality; sometimes even creativity (according to the unusual form) or dissent (closer to pathology).
Parts rising above the level of the figure
They can be functional or decorative (wings, extra legs, tentacles, carapace details, feathers, bows like curls, floral-functional details).
This is the energy of covering different areas of human activity, self-confidence, “self-propagation” with indelicate and indiscriminate oppression of others, or curiosity, the desire to participate in as many other people’s affairs as possible, winning a place in the sun, enthusiasm for one’s activities, courage of enterprises (according to the value of the detail symbol - wings or tentacles, etc.).
Decorating details - demonstrativeness, a tendency to attract the attention of others, mannerisms (for example, a horse or its non-existent likeness in a peacock feather sultan).
Tails
They express their attitude to their own actions, decisions, conclusions, to their verbal products, judging by whether these tails are turned to the right (on the sheet) or to the left.
Tails turned to the right - attitude towards their actions and behavior.
To the left - attitude to one's thoughts, decisions; to missed opportunities, to their own indecision.
The positive or negative coloring of this attitude is expressed by the direction of the tails upwards (confidently, positively, cheerfully) or a falling downward movement (dissatisfaction with oneself, doubts about one's own rightness, regret about what has been done, said, remorse, etc.). Attention should be paid to the tails, consisting of several, sometimes repeating, links, to especially magnificent tails, especially long and sometimes branched.
Contours of the figure
They are analyzed by the presence or absence of protrusions (such as shields, shells, needles), drawing and darkening of the contour line. This is protection from others, aggressive if it is made in sharp corners; with fear and anxiety, if there is a darkening, "staining" of the contour line; with apprehension, suspicion, if shields, barriers are placed, the line is doubled.
The orientation of such protection is in accordance with the spatial location: the upper contour of the figure is against the higher, against persons who have the opportunity to impose a ban, restriction, to exercise coercion, i.e. against older people, parents, teachers, bosses, leaders; lower contour - protection against ridicule, non-recognition, lack of authority among subordinate subordinates, juniors, fear of condemnation; lateral contours - undifferentiated apprehension and readiness for self-defense of any order and in different situations; the same if the protection elements are located not along the contour, but inside the contour, on the body of the animal itself. On the right - more in the process of activity (real), on the left - more protection of one's opinions, beliefs, tastes.
Total Energy
The number of depicted details is estimated (is it only the necessary amount to give an idea of a fictional non-existent animal (body, head, limbs or body, tail, wings, etc.), with a filled outline, without shading and additional lines and parts, just primitive contour or there is a generous image of not only necessary, but additional details complicating the design).
Accordingly, the more components and elements (in addition to the most necessary), the higher the energy.
In the opposite case - energy saving, asthenia of the body, chronic somatic disease. (The same is confirmed by the nature of the line - a weak cobweb-like line, "carries a pencil on paper" without pressing it.) The reverse character of the lines - bold with pressure - is not polar: this is not energy, but anxiety.
Attention should be paid to sharply pressed lines, visible even on reverse side sheet (convulsive, high muscle tone of the drawing hand) - sharp anxiety. Pay attention also to what detail, what symbol is made in this way (that is, what the alarm is attached to). Evaluation of the nature of the line (duplication of the line, negligence, inaccurate connections, “islands” of overlapping lines, blackening of parts of the picture, “smearing”, deviation from the vertical axis, line stereotypes, etc.). The evaluation is carried out in the same way as in the analysis of the pictogram. The same fragmentation of lines and forms, incompleteness, raggedness of the picture.
Thematically, animals are divided into threatened, threatening, neutral (likeness of a lion, hippopotamus, wolf, or bird, snail, ant, or squirrel, dog, cat). This is an attitude to one's own person and to one's Self, an idea of one's position in the world, as if identifying oneself by significance (with a hare, an insect, an elephant, a dog, etc.).
In this case, the drawn animal is a representative of the drawing person himself. Assimilation of the drawn animal to a person, starting with placing the animal in the position of upright walking on two legs instead of four or more and ending with dressing the animal in human clothes (pants, skirts, bows, belts, dresses), including the similarity of the muzzle to the face, legs and paws to the hands , - testifies to infantilism, emotional immaturity, according to the degree of humanization of the animal. The mechanism is similar (and parallel) to the allegorical meaning of animals and their characters in fairy tales, parables, etc.
The degree of aggressiveness is expressed by the number, location and nature of the angles in the drawing, regardless of their connection with one or another detail of the image. Especially significant in this respect are direct symbols of aggression - claws, teeth, beaks. Attention should also be paid to the emphasis on sexual characteristics - udders, nipples, breasts with a humanoid figure, etc. This is an attitude towards sex, up to a fixation on the problem of sex.
The figure of a circle (especially an empty one) symbolizes and expresses a tendency to secrecy, isolation, closeness of one's inner world, unwillingness to give information about oneself to others, and finally, unwillingness to be tested. Such figures usually provide a limited amount of data for analysis.
Pay attention to the cases of mounting mechanical parts in the animal's body - placing the animal on a pedestal, tractor or tank tracks, a tripod, attaching a propeller, screw to the head; mounting in the eye of an electric lamp, in the body and limbs of the animal - handles, keys and antennas. This is observed more often in patients with schizophrenia and deep schizoids. Creative possibilities are usually expressed by the number of elements combined in the figure.
Banality, lack of creativity take the form of a ready-made, existing animal (people, horses, dogs, pigs, fish), to which a ready-made existing detail is attached so that the painted animal becomes non-existent - a cat with wings, a fish with feathers, a dog with flippers, etc. etc. Originality is expressed in the form of constructing a figure from elements, and not whole blanks.
Name can express a rational combination of semantic parts (flying hare, "begekot", "flycat", etc.). Another option is word formation with a book-scientific, sometimes Latin suffix or ending (“ratoletius”, etc.). The first is rationality, a specific setting for orientation and adaptation; the second is demonstrativeness, aimed mainly at demonstrating one's own mind, erudition, and knowledge. There are names that are superficially sound without any meaning (“lyalie”, “lioshana”, “Grateker”, etc.), conveying a frivolous attitude towards others, the inability to take into account the danger signal, the presence of affective criteria at the basis of thinking, the preponderance of aesthetic elements in judgments over rational.
There are ironically humorous names (“rhinochurka”, “bubble”, etc.) with a correspondingly ironically condescending attitude towards others. Infantile names usually have repeating elements (“tru tru”, “liu lu”, “kus kus”, etc.). The tendency to fantasize (more often of a defensive nature) is usually expressed by elongated names ("abersinoticliron", "gulobarnicletamieshinia", etc.).