The history of drawing in psychoanalysis
How drawing became a clinical instrument — and why it accesses what words cannot reach.
Drawing therapy
For psychologists and therapists
Learn to identify your patient's hidden ailments through drawing analysis
The path to a more assertive and confident interpretation in your sessions with children, adolescents, and adults.
Those who have already applied it
Therapists who transformed their clinical practice
Results from professionals who used it in therapy
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Do you recognize these thoughts?
Does this cross your mind before a session?
If any of these sound familiar, you're in the right place
“I want to ask for a drawing, but what if the patient finds it strange? I don't know how to introduce it without it seeming forced.”— before a difficult session
“I've already read several texts on the subject. I know the theory. But at the crucial moment I get stuck — I don't know where to start interpreting what the patient brought.”— during supervision, when recounting a case
“The patient made the drawing. It stayed on my desk. I didn't give any feedback on it. I felt like I wasted valuable material.”— after a session with a child
“I feel like I'm improvising when I use drawing. Sometimes it works, but I don't know why — and that leaves me insecure about justifying the intervention.”— when writing the progress in the clinical record
“I'm afraid of making a hasty interpretation and generating more resistance than acceptance. I prefer not to risk it.”— with patients in a fragile state
What's happening
The problem is not a lack of study.
It's an excess of information without a clear path.
You've read articles, undergone supervisions. You have the theoretical framework. But no one has given you a protocol on how to conduct the drawing moment in practice — from the request to the feedback.
The block that appears in the session is not a lack of competence. It's the absence of a clinical guiding thread that organizes what you already know into an applicable sequence, with confidence and foundation.
Therapy through drawing is not an isolated technique. It is an expanded listening — which, when conducted with discernment, opens paths that months of words have not.
The Drawing Therapy E-book exists for this purpose: to give you the complete clinical path — when to request it, how to interpret it, and how to give feedback — in the language you already use in the consulting room.
How it works in practice
The e-book guides you through 3 clinical movements
Each step was designed to move you from theory to action
1
When and how to introduce drawing
You learn the most favorable clinical moments to request a drawing — and how to present the request naturally, without breaking the bond or causing awkwardness. The patient comes to the paper because they feel invited, not directed.
2
How to interpret expressive marks with criteria
You learn to observe the drawing beyond its manifest content: stroke, pressure, use of space, formal organization. No intuitive interpretation — there is a systematic clinical gaze that you will incorporate and be able to record in the clinical history.
3
How to give feedback to the patient with acceptance and ethics
Giving feedback is the most delicate — and most powerful — moment. You learn to construct the return words without projection, without hasty interpretation, opening space for the patient to listen to themselves through their own drawing.
Inside the e-book
What you will learn
From theoretical basis to practical analysis — the complete content
Nise da Silveira and art as healing
The legacy that validated the image as the language of the unconscious within the clinic.
Drawings and the unconscious
What the stroke reveals when words defend themselves — listening amplified by paper.
Drawing in children, adolescents, and adults
Adaptations of the technique for each stage of life — from child care to the resistant adult patient.
Shapes, strokes, and colors
Technical criteria for interpreting pressure, use of space, repetitions, and color choices — without assumptions.
The practice of drawing analysis
The complete clinical path: when to ask for it, how to interpret it, and how to give feedback to the patient.
Take a look at the material
See how the content is organized
Each page was designed to be consulted during the session — not just read once
Index
What you will find
- 01 What drawing reveals and words don't say
- 02 Listening through the stroke
- 03 Difference between interpreting and investigating
- 04 How to present the drawing to the patient
- 05 The blank page: what to do with silence
- 06 Questions that open the unconscious
Chapter 1
What drawing reveals and words don't say
The stroke communicates what verbal language has not yet found a way to express. This is the clinical premise that underlies the entire technique.
01
Listening through the stroke
When the patient draws, they are not merely producing an image. They are internally organizing what has no name yet.
“Drawing is the silent speech of the unconscious.”
— D. W. Winnicott
— D. W. Winnicott
The therapist's stance towards the drawing determines what the patient allows themselves to reveal. Observing without premature interpretation is the first clinical move.
In practice
Gain clarity and confidence to analyze any drawing
Real drawings brought by students — from children, adolescents, and adults
What are these strokes saying?After the e-book, you will know how to read them.
What's included
Everything you will receive
Five downloadable materials that complement each other for your clinical practice
Main Material
Therapy Through Drawing
The complete clinical guide in PDF, with theoretical foundations, practical applications, and guidelines for conducting the use of drawing in individual sessions — with adults, adolescents, and children. Accessible language, solid foundation.
Bonus 1
Questions that Reveal What the Drawing Doesn't Say
To delve deeper into what the patient expresses beyond the obvious. A downloadable guide with clinical questions to expand the material without directing — respecting the patient's time and defenses.
Bonus 2
Drawing Without Resistance
How to introduce it in sessions with children, adolescents, and adults. Sample phrases to propose drawing in a way that makes the patient feel invited, not evaluated.
Bonus 3
Clinical Reading Map in 10 Minutes
A quick guide on what to observe, in what order, and what to explore. Designed to be consulted during the session, not afterward.
Bonus 4
Clinical Drawing Analysis Sheet
A practical template to organize observations, questions, hypotheses, and feedback. Printable and ready to file in the patient's record.
Who this e-book is for
This material was made for you if...
✓
You are a psychologist or therapist
with clinical training and want to add drawing as a legitimate resource in your sessions
with clinical training and want to add drawing as a legitimate resource in your sessions
✓
You already have the theory
but you feel you lack a clear protocol to apply it in practice without improvising
but you feel you lack a clear protocol to apply it in practice without improvising
✓
You treat children or adolescents
and want to expand your repertoire of interventions with a clinical foundation
and want to expand your repertoire of interventions with a clinical foundation
✓
You want to guide the feedback
of the drawing with confidence — without hasty interpretations or awkward silences
of the drawing with confidence — without hasty interpretations or awkward silences
✓
You already use drawing intuitively
and want to give technical criteria to what you do to be able to record and justify the intervention
and want to give technical criteria to what you do to be able to record and justify the intervention
✓
You are in supervision
and want to have material to present cases with greater clinical consistency
and want to have material to present cases with greater clinical consistency
This material is not for you if
× You are looking for a standardized projective test (HTP, kinetic family, etc.) — this e-book is about expressive listening, not psychological testing
× You do not have clinical training — the content presupposes knowledge in developmental psychology and relationship theory
× You do not have clinical training — the content presupposes knowledge in developmental psychology and relationship theory
Value perspective
You charge more for a single session than the value of this entire package.
ONE OF YOUR SESSIONS
USD $50
50 minutes · 1 patient.
Ends with the hour.
E-BOOK + 4 BONUSES
Much less than that
Permanent access · all your patients.
Lasting clinical judgment.
What you receive today
Everything that's included
Five materials to transform your clinical practice
What's includedIndividual value
E-BOOKTherapy Through DrawingUSD $39
BONUS 1Questions that Reveal What the Drawing Doesn't SayUSD $19
BONUS 2Drawing Without ResistanceUSD $15
BONUS 3Clinical Reading Map in 10 MinutesUSD $12
BONUS 4Clinical Drawing Analysis SheetUSD $12
Total separate valueUSD $97
Today you get it all forUSD$9.99
Instant access · 100% secure payment
An important question
What if you don't change anything in your practice?
There's no artificial urgency here. The e-book will still be available. But it's worth thinking about what remains the same while you wait.
You keep getting stuck before introducing drawing — and postponing a resource you already know works, waiting for "the right moment" that rarely appears on its own.
You still don't know how to record the intervention in the clinical record — which weakens your clinical justification and can generate insecurity in supervision and guidance.
You keep giving generic feedback — or no feedback — missing one of the richest listening moments that the therapeutic process can offer.
You're going to buy another theoretical material — that will increase your intellectual baggage without solving the blockage that occurs within the session.
About the author
Who created this material
I am Laura Varela, occupational therapist and psychoanalyst, specializing in mental health and trauma. I have worked clinically with adolescents and adults for over a decade, and drawing entered my practice not as a technique but as a form of listening that the body and image allow before words arrive.
I wrote this e-book with the aim of teaching other therapists to use drawing as a language and a way of listening, respecting the individual, instead of classifying through symbols that mostly make no sense even to the patient themselves.
Your decision
You already have the knowledge.
Now you have the path.
The e-book won't teach you to be a therapist. It will give you what you already needed: a clinical guiding thread to use drawing confidently, in the next session.
USD $9.99
Instant access · 100% secure payment
Frequent doubts
Questions and answers
How will I receive the material after purchase?
Immediately after purchase, you will be able to download the e-book and bonuses. You will also receive the product in your email and can access your files anytime, from your phone or computer.
Do I need previous experience with expressive therapy?
No. The e-book was written for professionals with clinical training who want to introduce drawing as a resource — regardless of whether they have used it before. If you have used it intuitively, you will gain technical criteria. If you have never used it, you will have the complete path.
Is this material suitable for working with children?
Yes. The e-book covers child care as well as work with adolescents and adults. Bonus 2, specifically, focuses on how to introduce drawing without resistance with children, adolescents, and adults — who tend to resist more than children.
Can I apply what I learn the same day?
The material was structured to be applicable. It is not an academic treatise — it is a clinical guide. Many therapists who bought it said they used the resource the week after reading it. The pace depends on your schedule and your cases.
Does it serve all therapeutic approaches?
The content was written from a psychoanalytic and occupational therapy perspective, but the principles of expressive listening have broad application. Therapists with humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, or systemic training report good applicability — with the natural adaptations of each approach.
Does access have an expiration date?
No. After purchase, the files are yours. You can save them and consult them as many times as you want, from your phone or computer.