This is a book with drawings from a patient who was abused in both physical and sexual ways while growing up. She was gang raped at the age of 11. Her family did not seem to be much in the ways of helping her and actually were physically and verbally abusive to her. She begins the book with a history about herself, but runs through it very quickly. Then she begins to draw and paint. This book is explosive. The painting were done with encouragement from her therapist. If you are looking for a book to help you understand art therapy, this is it. The drawing tell more details than words could ever tell. The pictures are full of emotion. Her story itself was not anything that I would like to read again, but the way she worked through her pain in painting helps support the theory art is therapeutic. The pictures are very graphic, and one must have a strong stomach to get through the whole book. As a professional, I had to stop several times to process what I was seeing and reading in the pictures. She writes a little passage on each picture about a related dream, and then she explains a little about the picture and what was happening in her life during the time that the picture was explaining. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to do art therapy and anyone who wants to get into the counseling field. If you can read through this book and still want to do counseling, then you are really cut out for it. If you read this book and have doubts, you may need to reconsider. Any of your potential clients could be this author. I would not recommend this book for the public eye, since it is too emotional and graphic for someone who is not ready to process it. A very well put together book, it is a “must read” for all counseling professionals.

Categories: Psychotherapy, MentalHealth, Relationships

Keywords: sexual abuse, art therapy, family