People We Serve • 177In the group, he began by isolating himself behind an easel in a corner and working on a
series of brightly colored, organic, curvy, voluptuous paintings. During those early months,
his work in clay was equally soft, undulating and fluid (Figure 8.8). But in the fourth month,
for the first time he played a role in a drama—that of a defense attorney, where his debating
experience enabled him to be verbally aggressive and competitive.
His artwork around this time started to gradually change, extensions emerging from the
clay, projections thrusting out from the flowing masses. In his paintings, too, there were
more often clearly separated parts, shapes, and colors, becoming more varied and differenti-
ated. Gradually he began to try other media, like wood, which gave his creations even more
form, stability and power.
As though a structure was forming internally as well, Sam began in minute, playful ways
to display some of the anger he had always repressed. After about a year of group therapy, he
spontaneously created a vivid, powerful drama that seemed to represent the psychic awak-
ening he was experiencing.
Saying that he was playing a “crazy person,” Sam cowered fearfully, retreated inside a
womblike enclosure (a large wooden box), and pulled it out the door. Opening the door
brusquely, he walked back in, appearing to be a totally different person, stomping and
speaking loudly, angrily, and strongly: “Where is that fellow? That other fellow who is so
scared all the time? If you see him again, tell him to get out of here!”
He repeated the drama the following week, after proudly reporting the sale of one of
his paintings for $25 to a local bank. This time he involved the other two leaders in the
story but had some difficulty being assertive with them. He dressed Dr. Irwin as a witch
and Dr. Borrero as a king, then struggled in pantomime with these powerful parent fig-
ures. He was able to win out with the witch-mother but often weakened in his battle with
the king-father.
Since Sam was unable to use words to express his anger at the male leader, we sug-
gested he try numbers. He was then able to carry on an intense, angry dialogue, with dra-
matic intonation and affect. The outcome was a compromise, in which a third Sam finally
emerged, not the violently angry one or the fearful cowering one, but a strong, reasonable
(integrated) self.
Simultaneously, his artwork began to change dramatically. He began to move from
abstraction to representation, sometimes even making people—faces that were often
Figure 8.8 One of Sam’s abstract sculptures.