More about dialogic-diagnostic art therapy
The reporter, Lisabel Ting, of The Straits Times Mind Your Body supplement should be applauded for writing an excellent article on dialogic-diagnostic art therapy (DDAT). She has clearly explained the difference between expressive art therapy and dialogic-diagnostic art therapy. I quote: “While expressive art therapy is geared towards having a curative effect on a mental, emotional or behavioral disorder, the dialogic-diagnostic art therapy allows a trained therapist to access the subconscious elements of a client’s psyche and to interpret drawings to help diagnose his/her condition” (ST Mind Your Body, March 26, 2008, p.8).
Mdm Salenah Mohd Ismail, a registered DDAT therapist, is quoted to say that “DDAT tells us about the somatic (physical) situation in a child. It can also tell us about the future … drawing is a bit like dreaming, there’s always a subconscious element in the images.” I may want to clarify her statement that DDAT is not fortune-telling or peeking at a crytal ball to see the future. It cannot tell us about the future. However, DDAT can tell us something about the individual who has drawn the picture and the likely consequence he/she is likely to encounter if no intervention comes in. Predicting a likely consequence is not telling about future of an individual through his/her drawing.
Another registered DDAT therapist, Mdm Loke Ying Ying, is quoted to say that DDAT can also be used to evaluate a child’s mental age and intelligence. One example is the Goodenough Draw-a-Person test. Another example is the Harris-Goodenough Draw-a-Person test - an up-dated version from its previous one. Today, such drawing tests are no longer used to measure a child’s intelligence. They serve better as a rough estimation of a child’s mental age and/or intelligence. A better and more accurate intelligence test is the widely used Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV Edition (WISC-IV). It is good that Mdm Loke explained that such drawing tests can be used to measure a child’s drawing quotient (dQ) instead. This helps to differentiate the two cognitive quotients, i.e., dQ and IQ.
Another important point that has been raised in Lisabel Ting’s article is that the reporter mentioned “DDAT can also be used as an indicator of possible mental problems such as autism and schizophrenia” (ST Mind Your Body, March 26, 2008, p.9). Two things I have to mention here. First, autism is not a mental problem or illness. It is a neuro-developmental disorder of constitutional origin and whose triad of impairments include impairment in social interaction and communication, and repetitive behavioral pattern as well as a lack of imagination in play. Schizophrenia is a mental illness and medication is a must. Second, DDAT serves better in detecting suspected cases of social-emotional-behavioral disturbances (administering the Draw-a-Person: Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance or DAP:SPED for short). There is little or no evidence-based research studies been done on the efficacy of DDAT in identifying individuals with mental illnesses. Perhaps more studies will be done with the focus in this area in the near future.
Finally, I agree with Dr Noel K.H. Chia, a board-certified educational therapist and IACT-registered trainer in DDAT, on the issue of the reliability of DDAT although it seems very helpful. I quote: “Accuracy and reliability depend heavily on the years of experience and advance training that a DDAT therapist has gone through” (ST Mind Your Body, March 26, 2008, p.9). What is more important to us should we see a piece of unusual drawing done by a child is that we should never jump into a conclusion too quickly. Always refer to a professional trained and qualified to perform a proper diagnosis in the DDAT.
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