The Pictures Which Children Drew Are Their Mirrors!

Abstract

Both Freud and Jung, who are the ancestors of modern psychology, pointed out the reciprocal link between art, symbols and personalities in their studies. Freud confirmed with his studies that universal human conflicts and neurosis drive people into the artistic creativity and the expression by drawing is a way to understand the inner world of the human spirit. Jung searched the universality and archetypes contained in the visual arts as he believed that the connection is important between the soul and the image and also he stressed the importance of symbols in description. Jung stated that imagines develop the spirit as creating symbols and individuals exposed to trauma treat themselves by using this way. In parallel with Freud's and Jung's studies, different studies were made as a result of orientation to the pictures of children. In the several studies from the past to the present, pictures are one of the most important ways of expressing themselves for children, in addition to this; it is an indicator for the emotional and cognitive development of children. It is stated that children reflect the inner world of their own as spontaneous and without resistance in the pictures which they draw, and they perceive this activities as a game, and inform the advisor about their psychological status, forms of interpersonal relationship, feelings, briefly many information related with their inner world. It is also specified that drawing is an easy communication instrument especially for the children who are timid, passive and have difficulties in expressing themselves; and it gains an important power to counselor about understanding children. In this review, we tried to tell the therapeutic use of pictures to assess the children mental status and the studies which was made in this subject in our country and the world.