Interpreting Projective Drawings: A Self-Psychological Approach 1st Edition

Clinicians doing psychological assessments that utilize projective drawings (and grad students learning how to do them)will find this economical tome a welcome resource of ideas around practice and interpretation. It is far more articulate and precise than the typical "cook-book" guides that one may encounter, which present an overwhelming, unintegrated array of interpretive assertions. While not a comprehensive guide to projective drawing techniques, Leibowitz's book nonetheless is very complete with regard to the method that it treats. The book has a basis in Kohut's developmental theories, but it is not a strident piece of propaganda for that school of thought. Leibowitz recommends that practitioners take a two-step approach to interpreting drawings--one that is an initial "impressionistic" response, and then a more detailed, methodical "structural" investigation. In this second step, the clinician looks at the specific formal aspects of the drawing (line, placement, shading, etc.) and then some of the more symbolic aspects of the pictorial content. He recommends use of House, Tree, Person (Male and Female), and Animal figures, followed by a brief Inquiry about each rendering. There are loads of pictorial examples, and some rather extensive case studies as well, with an emphasis on how drawings can give important clues about the baseline issues in treatment,and how progress on these issues can be literally seen to improve over time. This is one of the more instructive aspects of the book. While not an "Evidenced-Based Approach" in terms of controlled statistical analysis, the implications are nonetheless quite evident to a clinical observer.I would not recommend this book as a first book on the topic, and certainly not as the only book a clinician should consult. In terms of "cookbooks" the chapter in the Ogden book (3rd Ed.) is still excellent, and the chapter in Groth-Marnat's standard text on Psychological Assessment is also quite good. Oster's book "Using Projective Drawings in Clinical Practice" is also outstanding and has some fascinating alternate drawing approaches, my favorite being the "Draw-A-Person In the Rain" technique. I also like Cantlay's "Detecting Child Abuse", and Malchiodi's work on drawings of children of domestic violence. There are, of course, specific guides to the H-T-P and Kinetic Family Drawings that are quite useful, too.I am glad that I have the Leibowitz book in my library as it adds a very clinically-sensitive, integrative, and therapy-based approach that is not typically included in the usual manuals and guides on this topic.

I am getting back into this sort of work after many years. I found the book very helpful. The only problem is that although the text refers to drawings in color, there are no drawings in color in the book. So it is hard to see what the author is referring to. The book was expensive and should have used color drawings when referred to.

Very good synopsis of projective drawings (House-Person-Tree) with real-life examples, cases, and summarized definitions for each type of drawing; very detailed but not too lengthy; we used this in our personality assessment class

This book is helpful for anyone attempting to interpret projective drawing assessments, such as the H-T-P. Such personality measures typically have little in the way of an interpretation manual, making a book like this invaluable. When I recently administered the House-Tree-Person drawing test, this book helped me find themes throughout the three drawings that were useful in my interpretation and integration.

I bought this at the recommedation of my assessment practicum supervisor and I have no regrets. It is a great resource for interpreting projective drawings-very detailed analyses and multiple examples. I definitely recommend it!

Great resource! I do projective testing measures and this is a great book for interpreting drawings.

I ordered a book and when I received it, it was not the book I ordered. Another book was put in the bindings of the book I had ordered. I was very disappointed as I was very excited to get this book.

A very interesting read