The self-portrait in adulthood and aging

Ninety-eight participants aged thirty to eighty-five, drew a self-portrait in which the depiction of face features and limb extremities was studied. Statistical multivariate analysis permitted to describe three classes of drawings with different modes of representation of hands and face features. The representation of the hands was problematic in most of the participants regardless of age. There was a relation between age and not representing the face features: 17 percent of the participants over sixty-five did not represent the face features vs. none of the younger participants. Results are discussed from a psychoanalytic perspective. The difficulties in representing the hands are discussed in relation to castration. The absence of face features in the portraits of some elderly drawers could indicate a minimal age-related defect of the network which establishes that the real mouth and eyes are both symbolic body orifices and imaginary face features. The comments made by some drawers strongly suggest that this absence may also represent an incapacity to face the losses imposed by aging.