Pergamon
The
Arts
in
Psychotherapy,
Vol.
24,
No.
4,
375-384,
1997
Copyright
0
1997
Elsevier
Science
Ltd
Printed
in
the
USA.
All
rights
reserved
0197.4556/97
517.00
+
.oO
PI1
SO197-4556(97)00023-3
UTILIZING
THE
CIRCUS
PHENOMENON
AS
A
DRAWING
THEME
IN
ART
THERAPY
MICHAEL
J.
HANES,
MAT,
A.T.R.-BC,
LPAT,
LPC”
Historical
Overview
Due
to
the
limited
scope
of
this
paper,
as
well
as
the
vast
number
of
drawing
directives,
I
will
provide
only
a
brief
outline
of
widely
accepted
drawing
di-
rectives
that
have
been
incorporated
into
the
indi-
vidual
evaluation
of
children
and
adults.
For
a
more
comprehensive
overview
refer
to
Buck
(1964);
Ham-
mer
(1967);
Klepsch
and
Logie
(1982);
Oster
and
Gould
(1987);
Oster
and
Montgomery
(1996);
and
Wohl
and
Kaufman
(1985).
The
use
of
human
figure
drawings
as
a
means
of
measuring
a
child’s
cognitive
maturation
was
first
in-
troduced
by
Florence
Goodenough
(1926)
and
later
refined
by
Dale
Harris
(1963).
Briefly,
the
directions
for
the
Draw-A-Man
test
consist
of
drawing
three
fig-
ures-a
man,
a
woman
and
a
self-portrait.
A
scoring
system
gives
credit
for
the
inclusion
of
individual
body
parts,
clothing
details,
proportion
and
perspec-
tive.
Tables
are
provided
in
the
test
manual
that
con-
vert
raw
scores
to
standard
scores
and
percentile
ranks
(Harris,
1963).
Goodenough,
along
with
other
clinicians,
realized
that
the
Draw-A-Man
test
provided
indicators
of
per-
sonahty
dynamics
in
addition
to
intellectual
aptitude.
Through
her
previous
experience
with
Goodenough’s
technique,
Machover
(1952)
devised
the
Draw-A-
Person
(D-A-P)
test.
The
directions
are
simply
to
“draw
a
person.”
Upon
completion
of
the
initial
drawing
the
individual
is
asked
to
draw
a
person
of
the
opposite
sex.
Machover
(1952)
hypothesized
that
certain
graphic
traits
reflect
specific
personality
characteristics.
For
example,
she
asserted
that
the
head
is
essentially
the
center
for
intellectual
power,
social
balance
and
the
control
of
body
impulses.
The
arms
and
hands
are
believed
to
be
primarily
symbolic
of
ego
development
and
social
adaptation.
The
figure’s
legs
and
feet
bear
the
responsibility
of
supporting
and
balancing
the
body
or
moving
the
body
about.
Machover
also
placed
particular
emphasis
on
cer-
tain
aspects
of
a
drawing,
such
as
size
of
the
figure,
pencil
pressure,
line
quality,
the
sequence
in
which
parts
are
drawn,
the
use
of
background
and
whether
the
figure
was
drawn
in
profile
or
frontal
view.
In
analysis,
she
considered
the
properties
of
each
body
part,
the
tendency
toward
incompleteness,
areas
of
detail,
areas
of
line
reinforcement,
erasures
and
line
change,
the
degree
of
symmetry,
the
treatment
of
the
midline,
and
the
mood
expressed
in
the
face
or
pos-
ture
of
the
figure
(KIepsch
&
Logie,
1982).
A
simple
adaptation
of
the
D-A-P
is
the
Draw-A-
Person-In-The-Rain
technique.
Hammer
(1967)
sighted
Arnold
Abrams
and
Abraham
Amchin
as
pos-
sible
innovators
of
the
drawing
task;
however
its
ori-
gins
remain
unclear.
The
instructions
are
simply
to
“draw
a
person
in
the
rain.”
The
assumption
in
this
technique
is
that
the
amount
of
rain
represented
in
the
picture
symbolizes
the
amount
of
environmental
stress
experienced
by
the
individual.
The
person’s
emotional
defenses
are
represented
by
the
means
of
protection
against
the
rain
(e.g.,
coat,
boots,
umbrella)
*Michael
J.
Hanes,
an
art
psychotherapist
at
Rolling
Hills
Hospital
in
Ada,
OK
and
a
clinical
consultant
to
Adapt,
Inc.,
in
Lexington,
OK.,
is
also
adjunct
graduate
faculty
at
the
University
of
Oklahoma
and
Chair
of
the
OATA
Ethics
Committee.
315
