An exploratory study of drawings by bereaved children

Br J Clin Psychol. 1991 Nov;30(4):373-4. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1991.tb00959.x.

Abstract

Bereaved and non-bereaved children made drawings of a person, themselves, their family, and a topic of their choice; the drawings were then analysed to investigate whether the experience of bereavement was expressed in drawing in any reliable way. Bereaved children were no more likely than non-bereaved children to include indicators of emotional disturbance in their human figure drawings. Bereaved children, however, were reliably more likely than non-bereaved children to include themselves in a drawing of their family.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological
  • Art Therapy
  • Art*
  • Child
  • Family / psychology
  • Grief*
  • Humans
  • Personality Development*