Previews • 17Although she had come to the clinic because her formerly cheerful daughter Lori was
sad, Mrs. Lord was also depressed. Both were reacting to Mr. Lord’s recent announcement
that he wanted a separation, and his subsequent move out of their home. Lori cried a lot, but
Mrs. Lord was able to hide her sadness behind a cheerful façade.
From the beginning, however, this young woman was able to tell herself things in art that
she was not yet ready to put into words, evident in her very first session, which is described
and analyzed in Chapter 1 of Approaches to Art Therapy (Rubin, 2001), as is her penultimate
session. After becoming comfortable in art therapy, Mrs. Lord usually began a session by
telling me what was going on in her life while painting or drawing (O). Then we would look
at what she had made on the easel (Figure 1.12), which allowed her to feel less self-conscious
than if she had to make eye contact with me, one of the reasons art therapy is effective (P).
Mrs. Lord quickly learned to associate freely to her images, saying whatever came to mind
as she looked at her pictures. After she had reflected on her verbal associations, we would
attempt together to figure out their relevance to her life.
Five Months Later: A Speechless Session One day Mrs. Lord arrived looking uncharacter-
istically somber. She said she had almost not come, and was so upset that she wondered
if she would be able to talk about anything at all. I asked if she could draw her feelings
rather than trying to put them into words. Mrs. Lord quickly selected a piece of black
construction paper (12” x 18”) and large poster chalks, by then her favorite medium.
She furiously scribbled a series of color masses whose brightness screamed out against
the black—red, yellow, orange, magenta, and white. She then grabbed another piece
of black paper, and quickly drew a series of multicolored lines that met, but did not
intersect.
Putting both on the easel, Mrs. Lord reflected on what she had made. She entitled the first
drawing “Shock” (Q), and then, much to her embarrassment, this usually well-controlled
woman began to sob. “All I have to do is break down and start crying,” she said, “and every-
one will think I am crazy! ... He’s the one who should be here!”
Figure 1.12 Mrs. Lord looks at her painting.