Human Figure Drawings: Symbolic Interpretations
1. Head: Intellect and Imagination
Represents the center for imaginative and intellectual functions.
1a. Large Head
Indicates: Intellectualization, especially if large in relation to the body.
1b. Other Head Features
- Disaffected Expression: Lack of emotional display.
- No Body / Portrait Frame: Figure framed like a portrait, or body omitted, suggesting detachment or focus on intellect.
- Emphasized Head (Piccolo): Highlights the significance of intellectual aspects.
- Isolation (Piccolo): May suggest withdrawal or intellectual isolation.
2. Hair: Vitality and Defenses
2a. Cap-like or Robot-like Hair
Indicates: Defense mechanism of isolation. (Piccolo)
2b. Bristly or Dotted Line Hair
Indicates: Aggressiveness.
2c. Horn-like Hair
Indicates: Potential aggressive or defiant traits.
2d. Absence of Hair
Indicates: Significant emotional or psychological concerns, potentially related to feelings of inadequacy or castration anxiety in some contexts.
3. Mouth: Communication and Aggression
3a. Single Line Mouth
Indicates: Verbal aggressiveness.
4. Eyes: Social Interaction and Perception
4a. Closed Eyes
Indicates: Defense against voyeurism; denial as a defense mechanism. (Piccolo)
4b. Omitted Eyes
Indicates: Defense against voyeurism; avoidance of social interaction or external reality.
4c. Very Open Eyes
Indicates: Voyeurism; potential anxiety or hypervigilance.
4d. Paranoid Gaze
Indicates: Paranoid ideation, isolation, accentuation of features. (Piccolo)
5. Chin: Determination and Strength
5a. Accented Chin
Indicates: Determination, aggressiveness.
6. Face: Emotional Expression and Social Contact
Reflects emotional states, social contact, and emotions used in interactions with others.
6a. Stereotypical or Clown-like Smile
Indicates: Manic defense. (Piccolo)
7. Neck: Control and Impulses
7a. Normal Neck Presence
Indicates: Intellectual control over impulses or actions.
7b. Disproportionately Long Neck
Indicates: Exacerbation of impulse control; dissociation; potential problems related to breathing. (Piccolo)
7c. Absent Neck
Indicates: Failure in intellectual control of impulses; tendency towards impulsive action.
8. Trunk: Emotions and Sexuality
8a. Prominent Upper Trunk
Indicates: Accentuated affection and emotion.
8b. Prominent Lower Trunk
Indicates: Accentuated sexuality.
8c. Genital Area Exclusion or Erasing
Indicates: Repression related to sexuality; area labeled as secondary genital concern.
9. Upper Limbs (Arms): Ego Resources and Action
Represent ego resources to operate in reality or meet needs in the environment.
9a. Absent Arms
Indicates: Genital guilt; castration fantasies.
10. Lower Limbs (Legs): Support and Mobility
Represent support, base, displacement capacity, and mobility.
11. Clothing: Adaptation to Social Norms
11a. High Chest Pocket
Indicates: Oral or emotional deprivation.
11b. Belts
Indicates: Secondary repression, control over impulses.
11c. Dark Glasses
Indicates: Secondary repression; avoidance of social contact or scrutiny.
11d. Long Skirts
Indicates: Secondary repression, particularly related to sexuality.
11e. Formal or Closed Clothing
Examples: Suit, tie, etc. (Piccolo)
Indicates: Reaction formation; conformity.
12. General Figure Appearance
12a. Clown-like or Maniacal Figure
Indicates: Manic defense. (Piccolo)
12b. Inducing Figure
Characteristics: Defiantly flamboyant, muscular, exhibitionist (even naked), cartoonish, large.
Indicates: Projective identification as an inducing defense (Piccolo); perversion. In psychotic drawings, may be a defense against psychotic-inducing situations. (Piccolo)
12c. Nudity
Indicates: Exhibitionism; failure of secondary suppression.
12d. Childish or Girlish/Boyish Appearance
Characteristics: Infantilization; childlike, likeable, and cheerful (for adult figures). (Piccolo)
Indicates: Secondary suppression; manic defense (denial of loss). (Piccolo)
12e. Sexualization Issues
- Lack of secondary sexual traits.
- Marked cuts at the waist, or figure cut at genitals or trunk alone.
- Emphasis on head, hair, and eyes. (Piccolo)
- Harmonious but non-sexual figures, well-dressed and “capped” (little concern for suit details). (Piccolo)
- Indicates: Conflict regarding repression of exhibitionistic tendencies and the erotic body. (Piccolo)
12f. Harmonious Figure
Characteristics: Complete human figure, preserved gestalt; pleasant figures with low sexualization. (Piccolo)
Indicates: Normal suppression. This advanced developmental level of defense suggests good personality organization and body schema. (Piccolo)
12g. Rigid Movement or Posture
Characteristics: Rigid movements and stances. (Piccolo)
Indicates: Intense suppression; isolation; reaction formation. (Piccolo)
12h. Poor Content Figures
Characteristics: Figures lacking detail or substance. (Piccolo)
Indicates: Intense repression. (Piccolo)
12i. Depersonalization
Characteristics: Rare human attributes; figure appears non-human or object-like.
Indicates: Isolation. (Piccolo)
12j. Magical or Omnipotent Figures
Characteristics: Large figures with magical powers (e.g., God, saints, Batman, Superman, kings, police, boxers, athletes, robots), essentially defensive against perceived attacks. (Piccolo)
Indicates: Idealization as a schizoid defense; fantasies of omnipotent control; dissociation as a schizoid defense (e.g., ideally good figure like God, or ideally bad like the Devil, or both). (Piccolo)
12k. Opposing Objects or Themes
Characteristics: Opposites representing good/evil, spiritual/corporal, affection/sex, etc. Generally, one idealized object and another devalued. (Piccolo)
Indicates: Dissociation as a manic defense. (Piccolo)
12l. Caricature
Indicates: Projective identification inducing caricature; deposition of experiences of ridicule, scorn, and astonishment regarding the body or the opposite sex. (Piccolo)
13. Drawing Sequence
13a. Unusual Starting Point
- Starting with unusual facial features before drawing the face oval. (Verthelyi)
- Starting from the feet (may be normal in children, expressing concern about growth and stability). (Verthelyi)
- Indicates: Difficulties with the body schema. (Verthelyi)