ABSTRACT

In A Jungian Approach to Spontaneous Drawing, Patricia Anne Elwood provides an accessible and thought-provoking introduction to exploring spontaneous images, focusing on the value of this tool for insight into the unconscious. Illustrated with drawings of clients throughout, the book poignantly demonstrates how one can connect and access the spheres within through drawing, and how this process can reveal the unexpected.

Elwood begins by accessibly introducing key Jungian concepts and exploring Jung’s belief in the power of spontaneity as an invaluable tool in one’s journey to the soul. As well as illuminating spontaneity, an oft-forgotten aspect of Jung’s psychology, she explores themes including structure and dynamics, symbols and archetypal patterns.

A Jungian Approach to Spontaneous Drawing also examines common motifs including houses, trees and people, and presents extended studies of work with children and adults and how their drawings relate and reveal Jungian ideas. Offering both practical and theoretical perspectives, this book demonstrates the universal benefits of spontaneous drawing for all age groups, helping people to find true release from unconscious blockages and traumas lying dormant in the depths of their own psyche.

A Jungian Approach to Spontaneous Drawing will be essential reading for Jungian analysts, Jungian psychotherapists and analytical psychologists in practice and in training, as well as art therapists with an interest in Jung, and those working with children and adults. It would also be of immense interest to students on courses including art psychotherapy, counselling psychology, Jungian psychology with art therapy, and all those in the helping professions.

 

chapter |5 pages

Introduction

chapter Chapter One|6 pages

Jung’s journey to the soul

chapter Chapter Two|29 pages

Structure and dynamics in drawings

chapter Chapter Three|11 pages

Psychic energy or libido

chapter Chapter Four|13 pages

Janie and “The Wall”

chapter Chapter Five|5 pages

The symbol

chapter Chapter Six|4 pages

The collective unconscious: instincts and archetypes

chapter Chapter Seven|9 pages

The transcendent function

chapter Chapter Eight|12 pages

Alfonso and “The Red Toad”

chapter Chapter Nine|8 pages

Totemism

chapter Chapter Ten|19 pages

Bobby and “The Fish”

chapter Chapter Eleven|15 pages

The tree drawing

chapter Chapter Twelve|16 pages

The house drawing

chapter Chapter Thirteen|20 pages

The person drawing

chapter |2 pages

What to observe in a drawing

chapter |2 pages

Conclusion