6 • Introduction to Art Therapy
drew me in “fancy clothes, wearing a see-through dress ... and a fancy hairdo.” He drew him-
self giving me the jewels he found when he dug for buried treasure (J). “Our Trip to Scotland”
(Figure 1.3) shows Randy as an adult holding on to my belt “so you won’t trip” (K).
Randy spent his last session reviewing his art in sequence, and was often surprised by
pictures he’d forgotten. Best recalled and most liked were the two series, which were also his
most careful work. The last one of the earth series was a picture of me on the edge of a cliff in
the Philippines (L), about which he made up the following story: “A sailor from the Bounty
was trying to kiss one of the island girls, and she backed off and fell down the mountainside,
and then there was a war. The island girls fought the men and the men fought the sailors and
the sailors fought the island girls. Everyone fought everyone!” I wondered why the island
girl had backed away from the sailor, and Randy replied, “She backed off because she already
had a boyfriend.” He then quickly drew “The Revolutionary War” (M).
In Randy’s two series he created his own symbolic framework, within which he could
explore and gratify his curiosity and sexual fantasies regarding his female (mother) thera-
pist. In the course of the story, he was working on resolving what is known as the “oedipal
conflict,” that is, wanting to win mother, but acknowledging father’s position (she “already
had a boyfriend”). His impotent rage about losing this competition was at the root of his
encopresis. In time, Randy accepted his “defeat,” with the help of the therapeutic milieu, the
art therapy, and the psychiatrist who saw him for individual and family therapy. As a young
adult, he competed with an older candidate for political office, won the election, and was
able to enjoy his victory, as well as serve his constituency.
Art Contains Aggression at Home: JENNY (5), NONA (4), and JON (4 and 14) (DVD 1.9)
Jenny, our oldest child, was unable to express her jealousy at age five when her brother Jonathan
was born. As when Nona had arrived three years earlier, she was a model sister, offering help
with household chores and baby care. While Jenny (Figure 1.4) was acting equally angelic
after Jon’s birth, the drawing I found in her room told a more ambivalent story. She had drawn
an “Ugly Mommy” and an “Ugly Daddy” who were missing eyes, hair, and limbs, along with
a “Beautiful Jenny” (A). The parents, she explained, had gotten ugly by making too many
Figure 1.3 “Our Trip to Scotland” by Randy.