Drawings vs. narratives: drawing as a tool to encourage verbalization in children whose fathers are drug abusers

The study aimed to examine the extent to which the use of drawing prior to narrative description increases the richness of the narrative given by children who are exposed to a succession of negative life events. The sample consisted of study and comparison groups (60 children: 27 boys, 33 girls), ranging in age from 9 to 14, whose fathers were addicted to drugs. The study group was asked to first 'draw your life in the shadow of your father's addiction to drugs', then verbally describes 'your life under the shadow of an addicted father'; the comparison group was asked only the latter. Following evaluation of drawings and narratives by two judges, analysis of variance between the groups' narratives revealed that when children were first asked to draw, their narratives were more detailed and more revealing of emotions compared to children who were asked only to verbally describe their lives, whereas expressions of resistance and splitting were more apparent in the comparison group.