A Jungian Approach to Spontaneous Drawing: A Window on the Soul

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.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction; Chapter 1. Jung’s Journey to the Soul; Chapter 2. Structure and Dynamics in Drawings; Chapter 3. Psychic Energy or Libido; Chapter 4. Janie and "The Wall"; Chapter 5. The Symbol; Chapter 6. The Collective Unconscious, Instincts and Archetypes; Chapter 7. The Transcendent Function; Chapter 8. Alphonso and the Red Toad; Chapter 9. Totemism; Chapter 10. Bobby and the Fish; Chapter 11. The Tree drawing; Chapter 12. The House drawing; Chapter 13. The Person drawing; Checklist; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index

About the Author :
Patricia Anne Elwood attended the Jung Institute in Zurich, where she completed her post-graduate diplomas in analytical psychology for children and adolescents and for adults. She lives and practices in Lausanne, Switzerland. She has taught in universities, as well as in clinical and educational fields and to professionals from a diversity of disciplines.

Review :
"This is a much-needed book on Image, Symbol, Jung and Therapy. Elwood’s style is very unique in a positive and readable way. The book is paradoxical - it's well anchored in theory, substantial on facts and method and yet poetic and meditative at the same time. Her style pulls the reader in and the reader stays to reflect. I found it to be such a rich experience. This book is an essential resource for analysts, mental health practitioners and graduate students in psychotherapy and art therapy." - John Allan, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Jungian analyst, and author of Inscapes of the Child's World: Jungian Counselling in Schools and Clinics "Patricia Elwood’s book invites the reader into the breath-taking creative world of C.G. Jung. Not only does the author offer a comprehensive, very readable, precis of the principal tenets of Jung’s analytical psychology, but at the same time Elwood offers an in-depth appreciation of spontaneous artwork. As the unconscious reveals the wealth of its images, the author leads the reader forward to a deeper understanding of their own self. This fine, insightful book is truly an encounter with the Soul. It is a gift to all explorers of the psyche and spiritual seekers." - Susan Tiberghien, lecturer and author, Writing Towards Wholeness "Following in the tradition of C.G. Jung and Susan Bach, the author demonstrates and explains incredible revelations to be discovered through spontaneous drawing: truly A Window to the Soul! Simple images of trees, houses, human and animal figures are shown to reveal inner dynamics, helping us to better understand the nature of the psyche and its influence on our ways of being."- Dr Robert Hinshaw, PhD, C. G. Jung Institute, Zurich