174 • Introduction to Art Therapy
Art and Play Therapy for an Anxious Little Girl: AMY (3) (DVD 8.10)
Amy was an adorable little girl who had been quite cheerful and well-adjusted until she
started to wet her bed and to have scary dreams. Her mom had recently gone back to work,
and worried that Amy was missing her. Her separation anxiety had indeed escalated, but
behind it were very mixed-up feelings, because when Mommy went on business trips, Amy
got to be alone with Daddy, which felt both good and bad. In fact, it felt great to pretend to
be the mommy, but it frightened Amy that her scary-mad wish (to “get rid” of her mother)
seemed to have come true.
She was very bossy and competitive with me, often reversing our roles in dramatic play.
She liked both dramatic play (A) and art (B). But the biggest breakthrough came after she
drew what she called her “favorite picture” (C).
When Amy made the drawing, her mom had just returned from a trip, and Amy was
mighty relieved. The picture was of a king and a queen, happily beaming at their little girl,
the princess. Amy announced that the princess was going to a ball, where she would meet
a man named Prince Charming, that they would soon be getting married, and that they
would live in their own castle (Figure 8.6). Her symptoms gradually subsided, and she was
soon able to finish her therapy. The pivotal drawing represented her acceptance that her
father’s mate was her mother, even if when she traveled Amy had Dad all to herself. In psy-
choanalytic terms, she had resolved the Oedipus complex.
Many different approaches (Rosal, 1996) are used in art therapy with children, including
Freudian psychoanalytic (Case & Dalley, 1990, 2008; Kramer, 1958, 1971, 1979, 2000; Naumburg,
1947; Rubin, 2000b), Jungian (Allan, 1988; Furth, 2002; Jeffrey, 1995), Gestalt (Oaklander,
1988), solution-oriented (Gat, 2003), and phenomenological (Betensky, 1973, 1995). There are
also therapists who use psycho-educational approaches, though because these tend to be more
common with children who have disabilities, they will be described in the next chapter.
Adolescents
Teenagers, who are normally narcissistic, tend to be extremely interested in themselves and,
by extension, their creations (Figure 8.7). Although it is usually necessary to deal with their
Figure 8.6 Amy in art and play therapy.