RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEIGHT OF FIGURE DRAWINGS AND DEPRESSION IN PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS

The Application of Human Figure Drawing as a Supplementary Tool for Depression Screening

Objective

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorder in college students. The traditional screening method for is psychological measurements or scales, but social desirability can cause students to mask their thoughts, and an auxiliary projective test may be needed. This study was designed to measure the validity of applying human figure drawing (HFD) test as an auxiliary tool for depression screening in this population.

Methods

The HFD test was administered to 113 clinical participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder and 97 healthy college students with self-rating depression scale scores <50. Correlation analysis, chi-square tests, and logistic regression were conducted to identify specific drawing features that associated with depression and could differentiate between the clinical and control subjects. ROC curve was also implemented to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy.

Results

Eleven drawing features were significantly related to depression based on the chi-square test results and seven drawing features were associated with depression based on correlation analysis. After logistic regression by controlling gender and age, three drawing features were associated with depression: shaded eyes, drawing clothes in detail, and drawing other personal belongings. Further, drawing clothes in detail and drawing other personal belongings were two significant variables in ROC curve analysis.

Conclusion

Logistic regression showed that shaded eyes, drawing clothes in detail and drawing other personal belongings were significant drawing features. Individuals with depression will have less energy to put extra effort into drawing and are less likely to have detailed drawings. And the shading of eyes may represent that depressive individuals have a low willingness to communicate and tend to isolate themselves. The results indicated that Human Figure Drawing could be used as an auxiliary tool in college students’ depression screening. Further, the ROC curve analysis showed low discrimination of single drawing features, suggesting that the application of Human Figure Drawing should be considered as a whole instead of focusing on the single drawing feature.

Self-worth and psychological adjustment of obese children: An analysis through the Draw-A-Person

AIM

To investigate psychopathological correlates of child obesity via the Draw-A-Person test (DAP).

METHODS

The participants were 50 children with a mean age of 9.74 years. Body mass index (BMI) was used as a measure of body fat. Children were divided into normal (n = 17), overweight (n = 14) and obese (n = 19). Two qualitative methods of scoring the DAP based on an integrative approach were used to assess self-concept (ESW) and overall level of children's adjustment (EAC). A procedure for judging interpretative skills of clinicians was implemented before they evaluated children's drawings.

RESULTS

As predicted by our hypothesis, BMI was negatively correlated with ESW, r (50) = -0.29, P < 0.05, but not with EAC, r (50) = - 0.08, P = ns. To evaluate the effect of gender, Pearson correlations were re-computed regrouping the sample accordingly: BMI and EAC reached a significant negative correlation in female subjects, r (24) = -0.36, P < 0.05, and a positive correlation in male subjects, r (26) = 0.37, P = < 0.05; negative correlation between BMI and ESW became stronger in females, r (24) = -0.51, P < 0.01 but not in males, whose correlation disappeared resulting not-significant, r (26) = -0.06, P = ns. No effect of age was found. Results indicate that obesity has a negative correlation exclusively on overall adjustment and self-concept in female children.

CONCLUSION

It was concluded that there is a negative bias toward females that reveals how the stigma of obesity is widespread in Western society.

Depression and figure size on the Draw-A-Person test

The relationship between figure size on the Draw-A-Person and depression was studied for depressed patients, non-depressed patients, and non-depressed hospital employees (30 males and 30 females in each group). All participants completed a figure drawing and a measure of depression, Beck's Inventory or the MMPI. No differences were found between any of the groups, that is, all groups drew figures of close to the same size. Figure size and depression were not related.

Childhood depression and the Draw-A-Person Test

The present study assessed the usefulness of employing the Goodenough-Harris Draw-A-Person Test for investigating depressive symptoms in children. Subjects were 166 boys and 182 girls whose combined mean age was 10.53 yr. ( SD = .78). Structural characteristics obtained from the group-administered test were size of figure drawn, vertical placement of figure on a page, and intensity of lines drawn. Depression was assessed by three independent methods: peer nominations, self-ratings, and teacher assessments. No significant relationships were obtained between intensity of line, vertical placement, and depression. A significant negative relationship was obtained between size of figure drawn and teacher-rated depression, for girls only. Present findings are consistent with previous research questioning the validity of utilizing structural characteristics of human figure drawing for assessing depression in children.

Size of figure drawing in relation to depression

104 psychiatric patients defined as depressed on the MMPI did not draw significantly smaller human figures than non-depressed Ss. There was no significant correlation between amount of depression and height of figure drawing for depressed patients, nor was there a significant correlation between reaction time and height of figure drawing for depressed patients.

Size of Bender Gestalt Drawings in Psychotic Depression

Comparisons of total area scores of Bender Gestalt drawings produced by 3 patient groups (16 psychotic depressives, 20 schizophrenics, and 16 hysterical character disorders) and 28 normals were nonsignificant, suggesting that there is no generally reduced productivity in depression.