The professor, Dr Tomiko Hagio, stuck a sheet of paper onto the university classroom blackboard.
She pointed at the drawing on it as she spoke.
'As you can all see, I now focus on teaching, but before I started lecturing young people like yourselves, I was a practising psychologist. I offered therapy to quite a lot of patients during my career. This picture is a copy of a drawing done by a patient I treated early on. A young girl. Let's call her "Little A" for now.
When Little A was eleven years old, she was arrested for the murder of her mother.'
Those words, 'the murder of her mother', sent a ripple of shock through the students.
'I decided to use a drawing test when undertaking her analysis.
A drawing test is where we ask the patient to draw a specific kind of picture and use the results to analyse the patient's mental state.
Like they say, "Painting is a mirror of the soul", and a drawing can often offer insight into the inner mind of the artist. In particular, drawings of houses, trees and people can be remarkably revealing. Now, does anyone find anything about this picture strange?'
Dr Hagio looked around the classroom.
The students only stared intently at the picture on the blackboard, wearing puzzled expressions.
'Does nothing stand out? At first glance, it probably seems rather ordinary. But here and there are some very unusual points indeed. First, look closely at the girl in the centre of the drawing.
Her mouth, in particular.'
Dr Hagio pointed at it. 'It's somewhat messy and smudged.
Little A had difficulty getting the mouth right and had to erase and redraw it over and over. She managed to draw the other parts smoothly in a single try, so why did she keep making mistakes at the mouth? This offers us a clue to understanding her state of mind.
'Little A was abused by her mother,' Dr Hagio explained. 'It seems that whenever she was at home, she always had to force herself to smile and act happy, so as not to anger her mother.
Inside she was frightened, but her face always had to be smiling.
Even if it was a lie. She would think, "If I don't smile right, she'll beat me." While drawing the mouth, she remembered that feeling, and it made her nervous. Her hands shook, and she couldn't draw well. The pain in her heart is also revealed in the drawing of the house next to the girl' Again, she pointed at the picture.
'The house has no door.
Without a door, you can't get inside, right? This house is a direct reflection of the girl's heart. "No one is allowed inside." "I want to be alone in here." We can see her desire for a refuge from the outside world.
'Now, finally, I'd like you all to look at the drawing of the tree.
'The ends of the branches are sharp and pointed, like thorns. We sometimes see this kind of shape in drawings done by criminals. It seems to express a defiant, aggressive heart. It says, "I will hurt you," or "I will prick you." Now, as a psychologist, I had to consider all this information together to diagnose the subject.'
Dr Hagio looked into the eyes of her students as she spoke, slowly and carefully.
'After looking at this picture, I concluded that Little A had a strong chance at rehabilitation. Can you see why? Look again at the tree. This time, look past the branches, and focus on the trunk. There is a little bird living in a hollow there.
People who draw pictures like this display a desire to protect, and a tendency towards strong maternal love. It expresses the desire to defend the weak, and to create a safe place for them to live.
'Deep inside Little A's thorny, aggressive spirit hid a kind heart.
If we gave her a chance to interact with animals or small children, we could foster that kindness and possibly calm her aggressive spirit. That is what I thought then, and I am still confident in that diagnosis. I understand that Little A is now living happily as a mother.'
- Uketsu
(Çeviri: Jim Rion)
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