Diagnosis of a non-existent animal. Projective technique "non-existent animal"

There is an interpretation of projective drawing tests. And perhaps the most popular in this category is the Non-Existent Animals test set.

Such popularity is well deserved - this set is quite easy to pass and gives a lot of information.

In this post, I will show how the interpretation of the Non-Existent Animal test (as well as the Angry Animal, Happy Animal, and Unhappy Animal) test might look with a specific example.

I thank my client for granting me permission to use her materials for this post.

About the non-existent animals test

In general, it is more correct to speak of four separate tests - "Non-existent animal", "Angry animal", "Happy animal" and "Unhappy animal".

The first of them is the main one and can be used separately, while the subsequent ones are considered as additional in relation to it.

For the first time, the "Non-existent animal" test was proposed by M.Z. Dukarevich, then it was refined and tested for many years. Personally, when conducting and interpreting this test, I use the methodological instructions of A. L. Wenger.

The theory behind this (and other tests under consideration) can be stated quite simply: these tests are projective, i.e. in the process of their implementation, the subject in a certain way projects (i.e. brings out) some features of his own inner world.

These features and properties appear in encrypted form, in the form of images and symbols, and the task of the interpreter is to decipher them.

I am often asked about the reliability of these tests and projective methods in general. Let me quote here a few quotes from Wenger:

« Of course, drawing methods are not without drawbacks. The main one is the relatively low reliability of the results obtained due to the subjectivity of the interpretation. Unlike more formalized tests, such as intelligence tests or personality questionnaires, drawing tests, as a rule, do not allow quantitative measurement of the estimated mental properties. The terms in which the pictures are interpreted are usually devoid of the rigor and unambiguity that is typical for formalized tests. Because of this, it is difficult to scientifically confirm the reliability and validity of drawing techniques.

<…>

The proposed method for the analysis of drawing tests can be characterized as sequential hypotheses and their testing. The general impression of the drawing and its most characteristic features serve as the basis for putting forward the first series of hypotheses. The involvement of each new indicator contained in the figure leads to the confirmation or rejection of a particular hypothesis. In this procedure, many other data act on the same rights as test indicators: the results of observations of the subject, his statements, the psychologist's information about the circumstances of his life, behavioral characteristics, relationships with other people, etc.

This interpretation procedure is not typical for test methods. It is more in line with the traditional approach to the analysis of clinical material. This shows the duality of drawing techniques: they occupy an intermediate position between test and clinical methods. »

It should be said that all the methods I use have been validated and tested.

How does this happen? Very simply: a group of people with known mental illnesses and life circumstances is taken. For example, let's imagine that in this group we will have schizophrenics, hysteroids, narcissists, psychopaths and depressive patients.

After the sample is made, the subjects are given the task to draw something. For example, a non-existent animal. Then they take drawings, make a formalized description and carry out statistical processing. If patterns can be found (for example, "psychopaths draw fangs and claws"), then a hypothesis is put forward that this pattern has diagnostic significance. If yes (i.e., the absolute majority of psychopaths drew fanged-clawed animals, while no one but them drew this), then the hypothesis is accepted and proceed to the second stage.

At the second stage, another group of people is assembled, about whom nothing is known in advance. These people are given the same task, after which the hypotheses discovered at the first stage are tested. To expand on our example, those who drew an animal with fangs and claws are tested (using other methods) for the presence of psychopathic. And if it matches again, i.e. most of those who drew these elements really turn out to be psychopaths, then the hypothesis is considered tested and valid. And, accordingly, they continue to apply.

As you can see, no shamanism, esotericism and other anti-scientific dregs, everything is quite within the framework of the scientific approach.

Another thing is that the very criteria for evaluating the elements of a drawing are quite subjective (for example, “negligence” or “general unfavorable impression”), which allows the occurrence of interpreter errors.

And so that my readers and customers can evaluate how well I personally cope with the interpretation of such tests, I post an example within this article (of course, with the permission of the subject).

IMPORTANT NOTE : if you want to take tests from the "Non-existent animals" group, DO NOT READ TEXT UNDER SPOILERS BEFORE YOU FINISH DRAWING! The fact is that this hidden text contains indications of specific diagnostic signs, and if you know them, then your unconscious can greatly distort the results.

IF YOU FIRST READ THE TEXT UNDER THE SPOILERS AND THEN DRAWED THE ANIMALS, THEN YOUR RESULTS ARE INCORRECT AND SHOULD NOT BE INTERPRETATION.
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And once again, for those who have developed banner blindness: please do not read the text under the spoilers before you finish drawing. If you read first and then start drawing, the test will show garbage that has little to do with reality. Thank you.

What can be learned with this test

It is quite logical that the future customer wants to know what kind of information he can get by passing this test. Well, let's try to answer this question.

The first thing to be said here is that we cannot predict in advance how informative his drawing will be. It depends on a huge number of factors, the influence of which at the time of the survey remains unknown.

So, for example, some subjects have problems in the sexual sphere (up to pointing out specific perversions), while others do not contain information about this area of ​​their personality in the drawings.

But in general, it is possible to single out a certain set of information clusters, the appearance of which is quite justified to expect in the test results:

1. The level of general mental development;
2. The predominance of a rational or emotional approach to reality;
3. The level of psychomotor tone, increased or decreased activity, asthenia;
4. Lack of self-control and action planning, impulsiveness;
5. Increased emotional lability or, on the contrary, rigidity;
6. Anxiety (as a personality trait) and anxiety (as a state at the time of the examination);
7. Fears;
8. Depressive tendencies;
9. Features of reaction to stress;
10. Aggressiveness (with the ability to differentiate its forms such as physical and verbal aggression, defensive aggression, neurotic aggression);
11. Extraversion or, on the contrary, introversion;
12. Demonstration;
13. Dissatisfaction with the need for communication;
14. Autization, avoidance of communication;
15. The degree of socialization and conformity;
16. Antisocial tendencies;
17. Attitude towards the sexual sphere;
18. Attitude towards the family sphere as a whole and towards individual family members (rarely manifested).

Now let's move on to a specific example.

Information about the subject

Gender Female;
Age: 26 years;
Family status: Married;

Test procedure

Testing was carried out in absentia. The subject was given standard instructions for completing the tasks: "Non-existent animal", "Angry animal", "Happy animal" and "Unhappy animal".

Significant facts that emerged during the assignment:
1. A large number of clarifying questions;
2. Attempts to complete the task not according to the instructions (questions about the use of colored pencils);
3. Long time to complete tasks;
4. Violation of the order of tasks.
Non-existent animal - Drebyerji

This task is emotionally neutral and shows those personal characteristics of the subject that manifest themselves in her in the absence of external and internal stress, i.e. it shows the characteristics of the subject in a calm state, when nothing causes any certain strong emotions in her.

Information about Drabyerji from the words of the subject (spelling and punctuation preserved)

"Any animal. Draberi.

It is an esthete and a gourmet. With a minimal need for communication, which can be explained by the natural presence of 3 heads, 3 different characters and personalities that get along well in one organism.
Heads, whose description is very superficial:

1) calm disposition, logical thinking, evaluation of events in relation to one's own value system

2) noisy, talkative, expressive, daring, sympathetic with his personality and charisma

3) a lover of winning, but appreciates close ties; ready to give in if it's important to others

The organism as such is very chaotic, the organs in it wander and the shape of the body is flowing. The lower and upper limbs are absent. The mouth sometimes serves as a substitute for the function of the hands.
When hunting, they envelop the victim. Since the organism itself is black in color and with a smell that is not accepted by animals as coming from a living dangerous organism, it is possible to successfully get close to the victims in 99.8% of cases. The size of the body also lends itself to transformation in length and width, but the heads do not change their stable shape.

Hunting for him is not only a way of subsistence, but also one of his favorite pastimes. He devours animals unprecedented on Earth, preferably while they are still fighting in agony and the warmth of the body is kept.
He lives alone in a large, elegant palace with a garden where there is a pond with toads. Which he paints in different bright colors, because their real color is too boring. Toads are his best friends, but they don't share this opinion. There are also servants in his palace, but he does not consider them to be people, he treats them as shadows or decorations. The gloomy appearance of the palace and its inhabitants gave rise to the creation of unprecedented myths and tales, it is not surprising that the locals shy away from it.

Despite the fact that it is surrounded by other people, the action takes place not on Earth, on another distant planet. There they live together with other creatures unknown to us.
It does absolutely everything that comes to mind. Of course, sometimes there are disputes about the primacy in the implementation of the desired. In this case, the heads guess the numbers and the winner is the one who first guesses the guess of any of the other 2 heads.

Their favorite joint activities: watching bloody films, causing a pleasant surge of emotions inside; enjoyment of listening to music - they are all selective music lovers; drawing joint pictures and decorating toads, of course. The brush is held in the mouth; reading books written by beings other than humans; and reasoning about experiences.

The range of their emotions strongly resembles that of a human. But so far, none of the events has caused them to release emotions that contribute to the generation of corresponding traumas: their entire lifestyle is filled with events that cause them excitement, delight and an incentive to dig deeper and further on the topic. A lot of things can amaze him: the unique beauty of animals and forests; castle architecture; pond depth; the smallest barely perceptible sounds; even facial expressions and appearance of people; drowning in a look that, at times, is more beautiful than the surrounding world; the color of blood, its spray, sprinkled on the ground; fear of the last breath of an animal clinging to life; the ability to create, search, find, choose, build paths; the darkness of the night and the hooting of winged creatures; vocals capable of expressing even more than a look; and the infinity of the imaginary world..

Although it is an aesthete, it itself is practically incapable of creating anything, and deep down this makes it very sad. So deep that it does not cause conscious experiences. It so happened that it was born a connoisseur, without the presence of special talents.

This creature has one secret - each of the heads can separate from the common organism along with part of its constituent matter and become a separate full-fledged organism, but only one of them knows about this, and she prefers to hide this possibility from the rest.

It never aspired to become separate organisms. He accepts his existence as a given, only surrounding himself with something that causes emotional thrill inside and is of value, but not material. On any given day, it is ready to abandon the castle and go on an unknown journey without a goal, the meaning of which would itself manifest itself later. "

Interpretation

1. H the presence of multidirectional trends(three heads). In this case, we can say that the subject has a certain internal conflict(which, in fact, is the source of this contradiction), but he is repressed deep into the unconscious and is suppressed by powerful compensatory mechanisms (the heads do not contradict, but complement each other).

In addition, the presence of several heads in this case indicates some theatricality of behavior, the tendency to constantly play a role, i.e. certain demonstrativeness. Since demonstrativeness in this form is quite rarely realized, we can conclude that there is enough high level of awareness and good abilities of the subject to self-knowledge.

Such demonstrativeness, in combination with other characteristics of the picture, indicates infantility the subject (which is confirmed by the data of the SMIL methodology).

2. introversion(the animal does not have arms or their analogue), while the subject maintains a limited number of contacts with selected partners (it can be assumed that there are 5-6 of them according to the number of outgrowths of the animal's shell, and the connection with one of them is questionable for the subject herself);

3. Schizoid accentuation(the sketchiness of the image of the animal, the formality of the compiled name, a small number of pictorial details as opposed to a fairly voluminous description). In this case, this emphasis does not go beyond the psychological norm she is a source of pretty high creative abilities subject and its obvious originality, but does not take pathological forms (according to this technique)

The hypothesis of schizoid accentuation is also confirmed by the indication that this animal is an aesthete and its love for bloody spectacles, as well as by the way of eating, associated with the torment of the victim.

It should be noted that in this case this does not indicate the sadistic inclinations of the subject, since for schizoids such features are not something that goes beyond the norm.

Here one can make an assumption about lack of empathy of the subject, but for its final adoption it is necessary to conduct additional studies using other methods;

4. Asthenia, propensity to autism(lack of pupils in one of the heads). A characteristic feature is that the subject associates asthenia and autism with the first head, which, in fact, personifies a reasonable approach to the world.

This indicates the importance of such psychological defense mechanisms as intellectualization and rationalization in the functioning of the psyche of the subject. With the help of these mechanisms, she is able to cope with negative experiences, transferring them from an emotional level that is uncomfortable for the subject to a rational level, where a developed intellect can process them. These defenses are mature and their active use indicates a high (no less than neurotic) level of the subject's personal organization, which excludes the presence of a serious mental pathology at the time of the examination.

However, in the same mechanisms, the subject’s weakness is also manifested, lack of contact with one's emotional state, fenced off from this sphere of one's inner world deprives the subject of strength and reduces her productivity. It is not for nothing that asthenia is most clearly associated with the head that most effectively suppresses emotions. The subject is not knows how to use his own emotions as a source of creative transformative forces;

5. The subject's fears(blackened pupils in the eyes of two heads). And again, fears are associated with those heads that are more emotional, which indicates, on the one hand, alienation of the subject from his own emotional sphere, and, on the other hand, that the reason for this alienation is that, at a deep level, the subject herself is afraid of her emotions.

Perhaps this is due to the fear of losing control, but it is more likely that this is a simple consequence of schizoid accentuation, which is generally characterized by some alienation of the emotional sphere;

6. Infantilism and negativism( protruding tongue at the head). It can be assumed that in the process of her development, the subject learned to use her infantilism as a mechanism of social adaptation and protection(like “I’m small, don’t touch me”), and now this infantilism is an element necessary for the functioning of the personality, with the help of which the subject simplifies the subjectively difficult task of interacting with others.

It should be noted that this mechanism can be quite effective, and the people who use it can make a very favorable impression and seem quite "nice";

7. autism(an indication that the animal has three heads, an indication that the heads do not need anyone, that their needs are fully satisfied within the being itself). At the same time, as a typical schizoid, the subject has an internal conflict about closeness-distance(especially expressed in other drawings): she yearns for others, but unconsciously fears being swallowed up by them, and tries to resolve it in favor of distance.

The strength of this position lies in the fact that with the help of this solution, the subject acquires greater independence and independence from others. Weakness is manifested in the fact that, refusing to approach others, the subject deprives itself of the ability to meet some needs, which can only be satisfied in social interaction (including such a basic need as the need for acceptance and belonging).

8. General immaturity and weak structure of the inner world(indication of the randomness of the structure of the body and the mobility of internal organs). On the one hand, this gives the subject a certain flexibility (and, probably, this is precisely the basis for maintaining such an organization), on the other hand, it indicates her immaturity.

9. Lack of emotional contact or their severe limitation (an indication of the invisibility of the animal when hunting, its lack of smell). This hypothesis is also confirmed by the structure of the animal's body (see paragraph 2), but here it acquires a significant addition: even with these few partners there is no real emotional intimacy. Again, on the one hand, such a strategy of behavior protects the subject from emotional shocks, and, on the other hand, limits her development potential.

Superficiality and formality of contacts confirmed by the place of residence of the animal, and its relationship with toads. Probably, the subject does not have really close people in her life, which may be due to early childhood psychotrauma caused by rejection and rejection by parents (or persons replacing them);

10. A penchant for fantasy(including defensive fantasizing), supported high level of intellectual and creative abilities(coloring toads in bright colors, the presence of myths associated with the place of residence of the animal);

11. Lack of communication, feeling of loneliness(the creature's place of residence is another planet). Taking into account the information presented in paragraph 7, it can be said that this feeling is a logical consequence of the behavior of the subject, however, it is felt painfully and is not accepted as a necessary consequence of the decision made in the proximity-distance conflict.

In general, this situation is typical for schizoids. The opposite could be the fear of absorption and dissolution in others, but the subject preferred this option.

This feeling could be overcome by realizing a deep, emotionally significant contact with another person, but the subject's fear of entering into such contact is too great.

12. A propensity to reason, reasoning(description of decision-making by the heads), characteristic of schizoids, is supplemented stuck on small parts characteristic of anxious individuals.

13. Alienation from the emotional component of the inner world partially offset by the occurrence exalted states or even hypomania(description of what can delight the animal). This is a favorable prognostic sign: with an adequate psychotherapeutic effect, the subject's mood (which is likely to be characterized by sudden changes) can be stabilized without serious pharmacological interventions.

14. Doubt about your own creativity(the animal is not able to create anything). The subject is so afraid of the emotional sphere, alienates it so much that it is easier for her to lower her own self-esteem, recognizing her “own incapacity and mediocrity” than to turn to her emotions, accept them and get powerful nourishment from them for her creative abilities. Here we are talking about intellectual emasculation, and not about the true limitations of thinking.

15. Internal conflict, despite the fact that it is pushed out quite deeply, is pretty strong. Most likely, it is he who is the source of fear that the subject is afraid of, she cannot afford to look at this conflict and prefers to experience all the inconveniences and restrictions associated with the rejection of the emotional sphere than to see it. It has tremendous power, which in the future can become the basis for the development of adverse mental processes and even lead to illness (heads can come out and separate).

16. Low importance of the sphere of material well-being(the animal does not have "legs" or elements replacing them, a direct indication of this fact in the description). Most of the actual needs of the subject are of an "existential", aesthetic and social nature.

17. High level of creativity(the animal is built according to the original scheme and is accompanied by a detailed highly artistic story).

Lucky Animal - Pikki

This task is emotionally loaded, it shows those aspects of the subject's personality that in one way or another are associated with her state of happiness - they favor the acquisition of this state or hinder it.

Information about Pikki from the words of the subject (spelling and punctuation preserved)

"The happiest animal. Picky.

This furry beast is about the height of a human kneecap. The habitat is our world, only rarely anyone succeeds in meeting it. Pikki is a herbivore. Most of all he likes to gnaw leaves from trees. Moves by jumping. The tail is similar to the flagellum of the green euglena, but it is necessary for balance. There is a blush on his cheeks, and in the center of his stomach is a symbol of happiness (he is the generator of happiness).

It is worth noting that Pikki does not know how to be sad, but happiness produces in excess and he himself does not need so much. Happiness is impossible without understanding the other side - pain. He is aware of this inevitable part of existence, but he does not experience this himself - he is immune from suffering, which is also associated with the absence of enemies and fears. His life is guided by non-random events and meetings, so he always has something to do, he just fulfills his true destiny. Others are always welcome. At the first meeting - surprised.

He comes at night to the houses of unfortunate people, he always draws a sign similar to the one on their stomach on the wall and waits for people to wake up, and they always wake up at night. He bestows them with happiness, and the sign on the wall remains forever a reminder of his humble visit. Maybe one day he will visit you too.

*Stars in the background mean a non-painful exaltation"

Interpretation

1. A good mood or hypomanic episode at the time of the start of the examination (this animal, contrary to the instructions, was drawn first). The probable reason for choosing this particular task as the first one is that the subject wanted to reduce the level of fear from confronting her own emotionality, and unconsciously chose the most favorable and safe version of the task;

2. introversion, lack of frustration of the need for communication, it simply does not exist in a strongly pronounced form (a happy animal does not have hands or their analogues, it is difficult to access). The subject is not aware of and does not experience on a conscious level the need to increase the number of contacts.

This somewhat contradicts the presence of her needs, which can only be satisfied within the framework of social interactions (see descriptions of other animals). The explanation for this contradiction can be found in the fact that, probably, some of the existing contacts are difficult for the subject, and she would like to get rid of them.

On the other hand, perhaps she is inclined to intellectualize and rationalize the need for contacts (this is clearly indicated by the presence of evidence of such a need in the text - see paragraph 10 - and its absence in the image);

3. Unconscious fears(blackened animal eyes). They are more pronounced in the "ordinary" animal, but they remain in the happy one. This indicates that one of the necessary criteria for happiness for the subject is a decrease in the strength of fears.

This situation is typical for anxious personalities. Together with data obtained from the analysis of other animals, it can be assumed that the subject was initially a very sensitive (sensitive) child, and schizoid accentuation formed later as a compensatory mechanism.

4. About what to achieving a sense of psychological comfort requires placement in a more friendly environment the ears of a happy animal also speak (the ears are a symbol of alertness, but here they are folded, there is no need to be afraid). Again, a typical situation for anxious personalities- the desire to get into a safe and predictable environment;

5. A happy animal is the first (the second is unhappy) that has pronounced sexual symbols (tail and underlined, drawn with pressure mouth), but in this case we are not talking about active sexuality (the tail is thin and lowered down), but rather about accepting your gender identity. In other words, the subject would like to better integrate with her gender, disunity between the biological sex and its psychological self-representation is a source of discomfort for the subject.

6. Often states of happiness and elation / exaltation are for the subject not a true reflection of her inner world, but compensatory mechanism designed to cope with anxiety (the stars in the figure, filling the entire sheet);

7. The Need for Security(wool is pressed to the body in a happy animal);

8. Tall but unsatisfied the need to accept one's own body(a happy animal has a “symbol of happiness” on its stomach). Perhaps the subject is trying (or planning) to satisfy her through body modifications(tattoos, piercings, provocative and unusual hairstyles, clothes).

A deeper explanation may be a reference to the fact that schizoids tend to oppose the mind to emotions, referring the latter rather to the bodily level. Thus, perhaps in this pattern on the stomach, the need for the integration of the emotional sphere was symbolically manifested.

9. Strong unmet need for acceptance and belonging(a happy animal is built according to the standard scheme). What is interesting here is that the unfortunate animal is also built according to the standard scheme, while the “ordinary” animal is built according to the original one.

Probably, the following situation takes place here: the subject feels a certain discomfort from her otherness (and this resulted in the construction of an indifferent animal according to the standard scheme), while wishing to become more “normal”, similar to the rest (which led to the creation of a happy animal according to the standard scheme). );

10. The need for acceptance and contact with others(the animal lives in our world and actively interacts with others);

11. Availability is possible hypomanic episodes(an indication that the animal produces an excess of happiness that it does not need so much). This assumption is confirmed by the data obtained using the SMIL technique;

12. Possible indication of the presence affective disorder like bipolar disorder or cyclothymia (happiness is impossible without understanding the other side). Periods of exaltation, which the subject no doubt experiences, seem to alternate with periods of melancholy and decline;

13. Existential need for meaning in life(the animal is guided by “non-random events and meetings”, it “fulfills its destiny”), which is an indicator infantilism and immaturity of the subject (such a need is more typical for adolescence);

14. Need for acceptance(others are always happy with this animal). One of the main areas of work with the subject should be the explanation that part of the needs can be realized only in social interactions. For example, if you don't connect with others, they won't be able to treat you well.

Continuation - in

Among the many psychological methods for studying personality, the projective method "Non-existent animal" occupies a special place. This is due to the fact that its interpretation provides extensive information about the individual while spending a minimum amount of time to complete the task. The test is not only simple, but also very interesting, available to both adults and children.

Author Arne Olav

The test was created by the domestic psychologist M. Z. Dukarevich, based on the characteristics of psychomotor communication. When a person draws, a sheet of paper at that time is a special model of space in which, with the help of movements of the dominant (for most people, the right) hand, the attitude to this space is fixed, following the words of I. M. Sechenov that any thought ends with movement.

The main goal of the technique is a general study of personality, on the basis of which the psychologist puts forward a hypothesis about some of its features, in no case making unambiguous conclusions about a person without a comprehensive diagnosis.

The non-existent animal test begins with a simple instruction: “Take a sheet of paper, a simple pencil and draw a non-existent animal, one that does not really exist and has never been on the planet. Call him a name that doesn't exist."

There is no time limit for drawing. Sometimes people refuse to take the test, explaining their refusal by the inability to draw. In this case, it is important to explain that the psychologist does not evaluate artistic abilities, that the test has a deeper psychological meaning than just the ability to draw beautifully.

The “Non-existent animal” technique is easy to perform, because drawing an unusual non-existent animal is not only simple, but also exciting. But its interpretation requires deep knowledge of human psychology. If you want to get a high-quality reliable result after you complete the test, use the basic rules for interpreting it:

The arrangement of the drawing on paper.

Normally, the drawing is located in the middle part of the sheet, which is in a vertical position. If the drawing is located at the top of the sheet, this indicates high self-esteem and dissatisfaction with one's role in society, where a person feels a lack of recognition. The lower the drawing is on paper, the lower it is. Such a person is unsure of himself, he does not care about the recognition of social status.

The main part of the drawing.

• The head looks to the right - an active and decisive person, brings things to the end, implements his plans.
• The head looks to the left - a person is prone to introspection and reflection. He thinks more than he does, instead of concrete actions, he prefers deep reflections about them.
• The head "looks" forward, at the painter - evidence of egocentrism. If there are sense organs on the head - eyes, ears, mouth, then this indicates the importance of information, dependence on someone else's opinion.
• An open mouth and tongue, but no lips, can mean high verbal activity, and even talkativeness. The presence of lips speaks of sensuality. An open mouth without lips and tongue speaks of a tendency to anxieties and fears, of distrust. In children and adolescents, you can see a crossed-out round mouth, which indicates fear and anxiety.
• The presence of teeth indicates verbal aggression, which is used as a defense in the form of a rude response to censure or condemnation.
• The eyes play an important role. They are a symbol of fear if a person clearly draws the iris. The presence of eyelashes speaks of a demonstrative personality, a desire to attract someone else's attention to oneself with one's beauty and manners, and in men it is an indicator of feminine character traits.
• You should pay attention to the size of the head: if it is drawn disproportionately to the body, then a person appreciates intelligence and rationality.
• Horns, claws, needles on the skin of an animal speak of aggression, protective or spontaneous. Feathers on the body of an animal are an indicator of demonstrativeness and narcissism. Wool or mane speaks of sexuality and the desire to emphasize one's gender.

The bottom of the drawing.

• The legs (paws) of the animal are measured by size relative to the body of the animal. If the legs are large and large, then this indicates rationality, deliberation in, the formation of plans and clear structures before performing an action. Small short legs speak of impulsiveness and frivolity in decision making. Especially these qualities can be emphasized if the legs are completely absent in the figure.
• It is worth paying attention to the nature of the connection of the legs with the body. If the connection is fuzzy and insufficient, then the person himself is rather careless, inattentive, does not control his judgments enough.
• The direction of the legs in one direction and their uniformity speak of conformity, stereotyping and banality of judgments. The diversity of form suggests the opposite: a person is prone to originality and originality.

Additional drawing details.

These are wings, feathers, bows, one more legs or paws, curls, flowers and various other decorating details. All these features speak of self-confidence, a high level of energy that a person knows how to distribute in different areas of activity. Sometimes this translates into oppression of other people, about making the focus only on their own personality. It can be a person who is passionate about his profession, striving for self-realization.

The presence of a tail indicates the attitude to one's own decisions and actions, to the products of one's activity. Tail pointing to the right - attitude to actions, behavior. Tail pointing to the left - attitude to thoughts and possibilities. The direction of the tail up or down indicates the person's perception of this relationship: up - positive, down - negative.

Drawing outline.

Author Arne Olav

The presence of shells, protrusions, darkening, drawing clear lines is analyzed. These details indicate a desire to protect themselves from other people. If there are sharp corners - this is an aggressive defense, if there are blackouts - there is anxiety and fear, if the line is double - there is suspicion and a sense of danger.

Animal type.

You can conditionally divide animals into:

• threatening
• threatened
• and neutral (respectively, similar to a lion, a hare or a dog).

The choice of the type of animal speaks of the attitude towards one's own personality, towards one's "I". A person chooses the type of animal with which he identifies himself. If the animal is “humanized”, in clothes, with two paws, upright, with hands instead of paws, then this indicates the infantility and immaturity of the author’s emotional sphere.

Name of the drawing.

There are six main types of names for a non-existent animal:

• connecting semantic parts (“cat laugh”, “zaytsezher”) - speak of rationality and adaptability;
• close to scientific (“tridericus”, “claynolius”) - they say demonstrative;
• superficial and meaningless (“lalasa”, “mrama”) - about frivolity and negligence;
• humorous (“bubble”, “churunda”) - about a condescending attitude towards others;
• simple (“la-la”, “sim-sim”) - about infantilism;
• elongated (“pratomina-karosa”) - about a tendency to fantasize.

defunct animal

Procedure

Instruction

"You are invited to come up with and draw a non-existent animal, that is, one that has never existed anywhere before and does not exist (you can not use the heroes of fairy tales and cartoons). And also call it a non-existent name."

Instructions for group testing (extended version)

"Today you are offered a task to reveal your creative abilities, imagination, ability to solve non-standard tasks.

Within 25-30 minutes, invent and draw a non-existent animal. At the same time, it is important not to use image hints previously invented by other people, for example, “cheburashka”, “losharik”, etc.

Call the animal you invented a non-existent, but suitable, in your opinion, name. The name should consist of one word, parts of which should not reflect words already existing in the Russian language (for example, “dolphin wings”, “konekit”, etc.).

Make up its description in any form (approximately 10-15 sentences). In the description, it is desirable to reflect the following points: the size of the animal, where and with whom he lives, what he eats, what he is afraid of, how much his appearance is combined with his habits, why he lives and what is the use of him, etc. etc. This list of questions is provided for your guidance. Show your imagination. We are sure that you will come up with something more original. At the top of the sheet, put your conditional number, today's date. Below is my painting.

We wish you creative success!"

Processing and interpretation

The position of the picture on the sheet

Normally, the drawing is located along the midline of a vertically set sheet.

It is best to take a sheet of paper white or slightly creamy, non-glossy.

Use a pencil of medium softness; You can't draw with a pen or marker.

The position of the drawing is closer to the top edge of the sheet (the closer, the more pronounced) is interpreted as high self-esteem, as dissatisfaction with one's position in society, lack of recognition from others, as a claim for promotion and recognition, a tendency to self-affirmation.

The position of the picture in the lower part is the reverse trend: self-doubt, low self-esteem, depression, indecision, disinterest in one's position in society, in recognition, lack of a tendency to self-affirmation.

The central semantic part of the figure

(head or replacement part)

The head is turned to the right - a steady tendency towards activity, efficiency: almost everything that is thought about, planned, carried out, or at least begins to be carried out (if not even brought to an end). The subject actively proceeds to the implementation of his plans, inclinations.

The head is turned to the left - a tendency to reflection, to reflection. This is not a man of action: only an insignificant part of the plans is realized or at least begins to be realized. Often also fear of active action and indecision (option: lack of a tendency to action or fear of activity - should be decided additionally).

Full face position, i.e. the head is directed at the drawing (at oneself), is interpreted as egocentrism. On the head are details corresponding to the sense organs - ears, mouth, eyes. The meaning of the detail "ears" is direct: interest in information, the significance of the opinions of others about oneself.

Additionally, according to other indicators and their combination, it is determined whether the subject is doing something to win a positive assessment or only produces appropriate emotional reactions (joy, pride, resentment, chagrin) to the assessments of others without changing his behavior. A slightly open mouth in combination with the tongue in the absence of lips is interpreted as a great speech activity (talkiness), in combination with lips drawing - as sensuality; sometimes both together. An open mouth without a drawing of the tongue and lips, especially a drawn one, is interpreted as the ease of fears and fears, mistrust. Mouth with teeth - verbal aggression, in most cases - protective (snarls, bullies, is rude in response to a negative appeal to him, condemnation, censure). For children and adolescents, a pattern of a drawn round mouth is characteristic (fearfulness, anxiety).

The eyes are of particular importance. This is a symbol of the experience of fear inherent in a person: it is emphasized by the sharp drawing of the iris. Pay attention to the presence or absence of eyelashes. Eyelashes - hysteroid-demonstrative behavior; for men: feminine character traits rarely coincide with the drawing of the pupil and iris. Eyelashes are also an interest in the admiration of others by the external beauty and manner of dressing, attaching great importance to this.

An enlarged (relative to the figure as a whole) size of the head indicates that the subject appreciates the rational principle (perhaps erudition) in himself and those around him. Additional details are also sometimes located on the head: horns - protection, aggression. Determine by combination with other signs - claws, bristles, needles - the nature of this aggression: spontaneous or defensive-response. Feathers are a tendency to self-decoration and self-justification, to demonstrativeness. Mane, hair, a semblance of a hairstyle - sensuality, emphasizing one's gender and sometimes orientation to one's sexual role.

Bearing, supporting part of the figure

It includes (legs, paws, sometimes - a pedestal). The solidity of this part is considered in relation to the size of the whole figure and in shape:

a) thoroughness, deliberation, rationality of decision-making, ways to conclusions, formation of judgment, reliance on significant provisions and significant information;

b) superficiality of judgments, frivolity in conclusions and unfounded judgments, sometimes impulsive decision-making (especially in the absence or almost absence of legs).

Pay attention to the nature of the connection of the legs with the body: accurately, carefully or carelessly, weakly connected or not connected at all - this is the nature of control over reasoning, conclusions, decisions. Uniformity and unidirectionality of the shape of the paws, any elements of the supporting part - the conformity of judgments and attitudes in decision-making, their standardity, banality. Variety in the form and position of these details - the originality of attitudes and judgments, independence and non-banality; sometimes even creativity (according to the unusual form) or dissent (closer to pathology).

Parts rising above the level of the figure

They can be functional or decorative: wings, extra legs, tentacles, carapace details, feathers, bows like curls, flower-functional details - the energy of embracing different areas of human activity, self-confidence, "self-propagation" with indelicate and indiscriminate oppression of others , or curiosity, the desire to participate in as many cases of others as possible, winning a place in the sun, dedication to one's activities, courage of enterprises (according to the meaning of the Detail-symbol - wings or tentacles, etc.). Decorating details - demonstrativeness, a tendency to attract the attention of others, mannerisms (for example, a horse or its non-existent likeness in a peacock feather sultan).

Tails

They express their attitude to their own actions, decisions, conclusions, to their verbal products - judging by whether these tails are turned to the right (on the sheet) or to the left. Tails turned to the right - attitude towards their actions and behavior. To the left - attitude to one's thoughts, decisions; to missed opportunities, to their own indecision. The positive or negative coloring of this attitude is expressed by the direction of the tails upwards (confidently, positively, cheerfully) or a falling downward movement (dissatisfaction with oneself, doubts about one's own rightness, regret about what has been done, said, remorse, etc.). Pay attention to the tails, consisting of several, sometimes repeating, links, to especially magnificent tails, especially long and sometimes branched.

Contours of the figure

They are analyzed by the presence or absence of protrusions (such as shields, shells, needles), drawing and darkening of the contour line. This is protection from others, aggressive - if it is made in sharp corners; with fear and anxiety - if there is a darkening, "staining" of the contour line; with apprehension, suspicion - if shields, "barriers" are set up, the line is doubled. The direction of such protection is in accordance with the spatial arrangement: the upper contour of the figure is against the superiors, against persons who have the opportunity to impose a ban, restriction, to exercise coercion, i.e. against elders, parents, teachers, bosses, leaders; lower contour - protection against ridicule, non-recognition, lack of authority among subordinate subordinates, juniors, fear of condemnation; lateral contours - undifferentiated apprehension and readiness for self-defense of any order and in different situations; the same - elements of "protection" located not along the contour, but inside the contour, on the body of the animal itself. On the right - more in the process of activity (real), on the left - more protection of one's opinions, beliefs, tastes.

Total energy

The number of details depicted is estimated - is it only the necessary amount to give an idea of ​​a fictional non-existent animal (body, head, limbs or body, tail, wings, etc.): with a filled outline, without shading and additional lines and parts, just primitive contour, - or there is a generous image of not only necessary, but additional details that complicate the design. Accordingly, the more components and elements (in addition to the most necessary), the higher the energy. In the opposite case, energy saving, asthenicity of the body, chronic somatic disease (the same is confirmed by the nature of the line - a weak cobweb-like line, "carries a pencil on paper" without pressing it). The reverse character of the lines - bold with pressure - is not polar: this is not energy, but anxiety. You should pay attention to sharply pressed lines, visible even on the reverse side of the sheet (convulsive, high muscle tone of the drawing hand) - sharp anxiety. Pay attention also to what detail, what symbol is made in this way (that is, what the alarm is attached to).

lines

Evaluation of the character of the line (duplication of the line, negligence, inaccurate connections, "islands" of overlapping lines, blackening of parts of the picture, "smearing", deviation from the vertical axis, line stereotypes, etc.). The evaluation is carried out in the same way as in the analysis of the pictogram. The same - fragmentation of lines and forms, incompleteness, raggedness of the picture.

Animal types

Thematically, animals are divided into threatened, threatening and neutral (like a lion, a hippopotamus, a wolf or a bird, a snail, an ant, or squirrels, dogs, cats). This is an attitude to one's own person and to one's "I", an idea of ​​one's own position in the world, as if identifying oneself by significance (with a hare, an insect, an elephant, a dog, etc.). In this case, the drawn animal is a representative of the drawing person himself.

Assimilation of the drawn animal to a human, starting with placing the animal in the position of upright walking on two legs, instead of four or more, and ending with dressing the animal in human clothes (pants, skirts, bows, belts, dresses), including the similarity of the muzzle to the face, legs and paws to hands, testifies to infantilism, emotional immaturity, according to the degree of severity of the "humanization" of the animal. The mechanism is similar to the allegorical meaning of animals and their characters in fairy tales, parables, etc.

Aggressiveness

The degree of aggressiveness is expressed by the number, location and nature of the angles in the drawing, regardless of their connection with one or another detail of the image. Especially weighty in this regard are direct symbols of aggression - claws, teeth, beaks. Attention should also be paid to the emphasis on sexual characteristics - udders, nipples, breasts with a humanoid figure, etc. This is an attitude towards sex, up to fixation on the problem of sex.

The figure of a circle (especially - not filled with anything) symbolizes and expresses a tendency to secrecy, isolation, closeness of one's inner world, unwillingness to give information about oneself to others, and finally, unwillingness to be tested. Such figures usually provide a very limited amount of data for analysis.

Pay attention to the cases of mounting mechanical parts in the body of the "animal" - placing the animal on a pedestal, tractor or tank caterpillars, a tripod; attachment to the head of the propeller, screw; mounting in the eye of an electric lamp, in the body and limbs of the animal - handles, keys and antennas. This is observed more often in patients with schizophrenia and deep schizoids.

creative possibilities

They are usually expressed by the number of elements combined in the figure: banality, lack of creativity take the form of a “ready-made”, existing animal (people, horses, dogs, pigs, fish), to which a “ready-made” existing detail is attached so that the drawn animal becomes non-existent - a cat with wings, a fish with feathers, a dog with flippers, etc. Originality is expressed in the form of constructing a figure from elements, and not whole blanks.

Name

It can express a rational connection of semantic parts (a flying hare, "begekot", "flycat", etc.). Another option is word formation with a book-scientific, sometimes Latin suffix or ending ("ratoletius", etc.). The first is rationality, a specific setting for orientation and adaptation; the second is demonstrativeness, aimed mainly at demonstrating one's own mind, erudition, and knowledge. There are superficial-sound names without any comprehension ("lyalie", "lioshana", "grateker", etc.), signifying a frivolous attitude towards others, the inability to take into account the danger signal, the presence of affective criteria at the basis of thinking, the predominance of aesthetic elements in judgments over rational ones.

There are ironic-humorous names ("rhinochurka", "bubble", etc.) - with a correspondingly ironically condescending attitude towards others. Infantile names usually have repeating elements ("tru-tru", lu-lu", "cous-cous", etc.) The tendency to fantasize (more often in a defensive order) is usually expressed by elongated names ("aberosynothikliron", "gulobarniclet- myeshiniya", etc.).

A drawing of a non-existent animal is a fairly popular test that you can take on yourself. Perhaps it will provide an opportunity to learn something new about your personality or just have fun.

In the photo: a drawing of a non-existent animal. Photo source:http://engels.ucoz.hu

Test "Drawing of a non-existent animal"

The "Drawing of a non-existent animal" test is quite easy to complete and fast. You do not have to conduct painful calculations or delve into memory. It is enough to surrender to the will of the imagination and not limit your imagination to the framework.

To complete the “Drawing of a non-existent animal” test, you only need a piece of paper and a pencil.

Test method "Drawing of a non-existent animal"

The test method "Drawing of a non-existent animal" is simple and does not require much time. The procedure is as follows:

• Draw an animal that doesn't even exist in the Chernobyl zone. The main thing here is to give free rein to your imagination and avoid any patterns. Cheburashka or mutant chicken as non-existent animals will not work. You will have to feel like a Creator and invent something completely new.
• Come up with a name for a non-existent animal. It is better if it is also new.
• Make up a story about the animal: where does it live, what does it eat, does it have friends and enemies, and so on.
• Do not read the article further until you finish the drawing!
• Finished? Now you can scroll the mouse wheel and learn a lot about yourself!

In the photo: a drawing of a non-existent animal. Photo source: 2diggers.ru

Drawing of a non-existent animal: interpretation

So what have you been doing all this time? Let's try to explain.

The “Drawing of a Non-Existent Animal” test is a projective test (like “A House, a Tree, a Person” or the famous “Rorschach Spots”). “Projective” means that you project, transfer onto what you are doing (in this case, drawing) features of your own personality.

Simply put, your non-existent animal is ... yourself!

Now let's start interpreting your drawing of a non-existent animal.

By the way, the site staff also drew their non-existent animals:

Where did you position your non-existent animal?

If your little animal is in the center of the sheet, then you are in harmony with yourself and your self-esteem is adequate. The higher to the top edge of the sheet is a non-existent animal, the higher your self-esteem. The location of the beast at the bottom of the sheet speaks of self-doubt and indecision.

If your non-existent animal in the picture is looking to the right, then your plans are most often realized. If the head of the beast is turned to the left, you are often engaged in introspection, scrolling through old conversations in your mind, coming up with witty remarks that did not come to mind in time - in general, this is called "hindsight is strong." If the animal is depicted in front, you are probably a sociable person who easily makes friends.

What does a non-existent animal look like?

If your non-existent animal in the picture is dressed as a person or resembles a person, this may indicate your infantilism.

Does your non-existent animal have weapons of defense or attack? If, for example, the beast is covered with armor on top, then you tend to defend yourself against those who are higher in rank than you. If the lower part of the animal is covered, you are probably worried about those who are weaker or equal to you. Defense weapons (armor, needles, etc.) on the sides indicate readiness to defend yourself anytime and anywhere.

Does your non-existent animal have legs drawn? If yes, you are confident and make smart decisions. If not, you are probably frivolous and prone to impulsiveness. Lack of legs is a sign of self-doubt.

Those for whom erudition and rationality are important attach a large head to a non-existent animal. Big ears indicate that you care about the opinions of others. And an open mouth is a sign of talkativeness. If your animal has "such big teeth" - you are probably prone to verbal aggression.

When drawing the eyes, the pupil is clearly highlighted? Probably something is bothering you. And carefully traced eyelashes are a sign of excessive attention to one's own appearance.

Horns are a sign of aggression. Whether it's a defense or an attack, you know better.

If your non-existent animal is decorated with a crest or a feather, then you strive to stand out from the crowd.

The tail is your unfinished business or intentions. An upright tail is evidence that you are proud of your actions. But a lowered or tucked tail speaks of regret.

What is the name of your non-existent animal?

If the name of your non-existent animal combines two semantic parts that are understandable to you (whalehorse, rock-eating fish, etc.), this indicates practicality and the desire to adhere to generally accepted norms.

A name similar to a scientific one (cotonarius, Western American kretarin, etc.) shows that your pride is erudition and erudition.

A set of sounds that does not make sense (brdynepen, etc.) is evidence of frivolity.

And repetitive syllables or sounds (cru-cru, etc.) mean infantilism.

Source: A. L. Wenger "Psychological Drawing Tests". - M.: VLADOS-PRESS, 2003

INSTRUCTION: Draw a non-existent animal. Tell me what it is: good, evil, think of a name for it. What does he eat, with whom does he live, what kind of dwelling does he have. Does he have friends and enemies. What are the three desires of the animal, etc.

When interpreting the results, pay attention to the qualitative analysis of the assessment of the implementation of the methodology.

There are several widely used variations of this test that are useful to be familiar with. The most primitive version is an image of a real-life animal, accompanied by a description of its natural way of life. So, twelve-year-old Liliana T. portrayed a crocodile as a non-existent animal (Fig. 1).

The figure has the following description:
"The crocodile is a waterfowl, it can move both on land and in water. It feeds exclusively on meat. It grabs its prey and drags it under water. The body will lie there until it starts to decompose, and then eat it. Eats people . Basically eats those people who are very afraid of him and run away from him. "
This way of completing the task is contrary to the instructions, so the inspector asked the girl to come up with another animal, and the requirement was emphasized that it be an animal that does not actually exist. After some thought, Liliana drew a cobra. It turned out that she was unable to follow the instructions.
The image of a real animal instead of an imaginary one is normal for preschool age, although with a good level of development, even a preschooler is able to at least give his animal a non-standard name. At an older age, this is evidence of a particularly low level of imagination development. Such task performance is often found in mental retardation or learning disabilities (mental retardation).
In some cases, the reason for the deviation from the instructions is not so much a lag in the cognitive sphere, but a very high level of anxiety.
It is difficult for an anxious person to perform vague tasks. Not understanding what the criteria for evaluating such a task are, he expects a deliberately negative evaluation in advance, which can completely block meaningful activity. Drawing an existing animal is in some ways safer than inventing something new. Therefore, an anxious person simplifies the task for himself, in fact, replacing the unusual task assigned to him with a more familiar one.
Liliana simultaneously manifests the action of both causes that block the imagination.
First, according to the data of cognitive tests, she has a learning disability.
Secondly, the level of anxiety is increased. This is evidenced by both the shading of the drawing and the theme of fears, which dominates the description of the animal's way of life.
A slightly higher level of task completion, but also in violation of the instructions, is an image of an extinct animal, for example, a dinosaur, or an animal that exists not in nature, but in culture: Pegasus, dragon, centaur, mermaid. So, eleven-year-old Senya V. drew a three-headed snake, whose lifestyle is quite consistent with the fabulous snake-gorynych (Fig. 2).

Fig 2. Serpent Gorynych

Rice. 3 Non-existent animal - drachesha

This task is normal for children up to 8-9 years old. Later, it indicates a poor imagination and a low general cultural level (often with pedagogical neglect) or a learning disability (mental retardation). In this case, a learning disability was diagnosed.
The most common way to complete the task is an image of an animal that does not match any of the real ones, but is built according to a standard model: a horizontal body, a head with eyes and a mouth, limbs (legs, tentacles, arms, wings). Additional details are possible - ears, nose, neck, fins, trunk and other parts of the body of ordinary animals. Among such animals, two types are distinguished: composite and holistic.
Composite animal is built from parts of different real animals. Thus, in particular, the winged fish and the animal, composed of a man, a dog, a horse and a cat, are built. The names of such animals usually more or less fully reflect their structure. In particular, an animal in which there are elements of man and dog is called "chelsa" (man + dog).
Inventing and depicting composite animals is characteristic of people with a rationalistic approach to the task, with a low creative orientation, a performing, rather than a creative attitude. This attitude is most typical at the beginning of primary school age (up to about eight years old), but it does not represent a deviation from the norm even in adults. With a rationalistic way of creating an image, the assessment of the level of imagination is determined by the number of prototypes and the degree of their heterogeneity. So, a combination of four animals (see figure below) is a more complex invention than a winged fish.

The same fish would be more original if it were equipped not with wings, but, for example, with hare ears.
A complete non-existent animal is also built in accordance with the general scheme of the animal, but without involving the body parts of specific animals, although the result may resemble a dragon, a heffalump, a dog, or something else. The name in this case does not include indications of prototypes. Examples of such animals are bumbuborusus and rav (see figure below).

The less a created animal resembles something that really exists (in nature or in culture), the higher the level of imagination is assessed.
Animals form a special group. Their torso is located vertically, at the bottom - legs, on top - head, from the sides - arms (instead of arms or legs, there may be wings or tentacles). It is possible to increase the number of arms or legs, the inclusion of additional organs. A humanoid animal can be called a robot or a cyborg, it can resemble a devil, it can be declared an alien, etc. The image of such animals is characteristic of a high need for communication. In particular, it is especially typical for adolescence, when the need for communication is highest.
Much less common are images of non-existent animals, which are essentially mechanical structures or include separate mechanical parts. Examples include a Martian and a strange animal that serves as a home for people (see the figure below). Such images are typical for non-conformal people with a peculiar way of thinking and a non-standard approach to the world and life, with a low level of socialization.
Often these are people with schizoid accentuation, with difficulties in the field of communication.

And, finally, in some people there are animals built according to the original model, which does not correspond to either an animal, or a person, or technical structures. These models can be very complex and intricate: a multi-head, aura, or they can be extremely simple (see the figure below).

This method speaks of the creative warehouse of the individual. It is possible both with a predominantly rationalistic and a predominantly artistic approach to reality, if only a person has real creative possibilities. In children younger than 9-10 years old, this way of building an image is quite rare. With a creative approach to the task, the level of imagination is assessed by the degree of naturalness of the resulting creature and, in particular, by the degree of correspondence between its appearance and the description of the way of life.
The most non-standard animals, equipped with unusual organs or even devoid of organs, are often found in people with schizoid accentuation.
If the image is too pretentious, then usually this indicates not so much about creativity and originality, but about the desire to demonstrate to others one's dissimilarity to others.

AGGRESSIVENESS

LOW AGGRESSION

The most complete information about the level of aggressiveness of the subject is given by comparing the classical version of the method "Non-existent animal" with the additional option "Angry animal". In particular, such a comparison makes it possible to reveal hidden, including deliberately concealed, aggressive tendencies.
In addition to drawing an animal, ask to draw an angry animal in order to see the level of aggressiveness of the child you are examining. The instructions are the same as in the first case.
An indicator of the absence of such trends is the absence of aggressive symbols (attack weapons) in the main drawing and a slight increase in aggressive accessories when moving to "Evil Animal". An example of this is the drawings of eighteen-year-old Polina Sh. As an ordinary non-existent animal, she made a drawing that corresponds to the generally accepted pattern, devoid of signs of aggression (Fig. below).

Aggressiveness is also completely absent in the description of the lifestyle of the animal, which Polina called the rounded striped whale: "A very kind and sweet animal, very devoted to people. He loves to eat grass, eats apples and wild berries. A very smart creature. It lives mainly in villages closer to the forest "He himself is brightly colored and can be seen from afar. He himself came from a hybrid of various most beautiful animals. He lives in a hut with his family and children."
In the drawing of the "most evil and terrible" animal, a very moderate symbolism of verbal aggression appears: a toothy mouth (Fig. below).

In the story about her animal sorcerer, Polina provided him with many negative characteristics, but there is no aggression among them: "This creature lives in deep space, away from people. A rude, arrogant traitor and liar. A very big pretender - a chameleon. He hates people and seeks to destroy earth. It feeds on small organisms that live on his planet, where he lives alone, called Witchcraft."
The statement that "the most evil and terrible" animal "feeds on small organisms" is a sign of a very low level of aggressiveness. Sometimes similar statements (for example, that the animal eats vegetables and fruits) appear in subjects who deliberately hide their aggressiveness. However, in this case, such an assumption would be extremely doubtful, since Polina conscientiously provided her animal with negative signs and even reported that it "hates people and seeks to destroy the earth." This message itself is not a sign of aggressiveness, since the girl, neither in the drawing nor in the story, gave the animal any means that would allow it to realize its anti-human aspirations.

INCREASED AGGRESSION

One of the most common signs of increased aggressiveness in the drawing of a non-existent animal is the presence of sharp protrusions and outgrowths, regardless of what they depict (horns, ears, tentacles, claws). An example of such a drawing is the drama robot depicted by eight-year-old Arthur S. (Figure below).

The most sharp outgrowths directed upwards are the hands. As Arthur explained, "he has iron hands. They hit. The head can tear off someone's head. His saliva is poison. If someone fights against him, he immediately melts (that is, his opponents melt from poisonous saliva). When he tears off his head, blood flows out, he feeds on blood." On the question of what the drama robot likes to do, the boy replied: "Attacks enemies. He himself is scary and powerful. He attacks without noticing. He can attack from a tree." When asked why he attacked "invisibly", the answer was received: "Because the enemies also attack, they can kill. They kind of take revenge on other enemies." When asked who his enemies were, Arthur replied: “I don’t know. Maybe cyborgs,” and about his friends he said that they are “the same as him and a little different look.” He also said that the Drambot lives in another galaxy and that the three things he would ask of the wizard are: "To have very powerful troops to attack enemies"; "Infinite life, so it was very difficult to kill him"; "So that he becomes more - appearance, growth."
Such a vivid manifestation of aggressive tendencies in the story of the animal's way of life is relatively rare. Usually it is inhibited due to social control.
In this case, social control is weakened, since Arthur has serious violations of socialization. Besides, Arthur is only eight years old, and at that age the control mechanisms are still far from being fully developed. In the above story, in addition to their own aggressive tendencies, there is also a fear of retaliatory aggression from others. It can be assumed that this fear is acquired as a result of the accumulation of negative experience. Probably, it was she who led to the fact that recently (the last year and a half), the boy, according to his parents, began to fight much less than before.
Fourteen-year-old Volodya S., according to the standard instructions (draw a non-existent animal), portrayed a boxer, writing an extremely short story about him: "This is a boxer. He defeats everyone" (which is also noted in the inscription on the drawing itself: "cheers - Victory").
The underlined drawing of muscles, fists and especially broad shoulders speak of the high importance of masculine (male) values. In combination with the main occupation of the depicted creature (boxing is an aggressive sport), this allows one to suspect an increased level of aggressiveness. However, the direct symbolism of aggression is presented in the drawing rather little: these are fangs and fists (boxing gloves), drawn with strong pressure. The special brevity of the story seems to serve as a means of avoiding self-disclosure. It is very likely that aggressiveness is hiding. An additional reason for this assumption is that in the drawing Volodya set a socially acceptable form of aggressiveness. A pronounced tendency to control external forms of behavior is evidenced by a sharply emphasized fence around the depicted figure (the ropes of the ring). Any doubts about the true level of Volodya's aggressiveness disappear when looking at the evil and terrible animal depicted by him (fig. below).

Since in this version of the test the instruction itself legitimizes aggressiveness, that is, makes it permissible, this time the corresponding symbolism is presented in full. There are two sharp horns on the head and one on the nose, long spikes on the shoulders and on the knee, claws on the legs, a serrated dagger or sword in one hand and a mace with large spikes in the other. All these accessories are underlined with a strong pressure line, partially blackened.
The story about the evil animal is somewhat more detailed than about the usual one: "It's a Vikongorygosaurus. It lives in the mountains. It's evil, it conquers everyone. It lives alone. It feeds on people."

Angry animal - vikongorygosaurus

Interestingly, with the exception of aggressive symbolism, Vikongorygosaurus looks exactly like a boxer. It’s as if they say to the viewer: “I try to look like this (boxer), but this is how I really am (Vicon-Gorygosaurus)”.

TENDENCY TO VERBAL AGGRESSION

In the drawing of a non-existent animal, the tendency to verbal aggression, as in the drawing of a person, is expressed in emphasizing the teeth. Like general aggressiveness, it can be hidden when depicting a simply non-existent animal, manifesting itself only in the drawing of an evil and terrible animal. So, seventeen-year-old Lena, according to the standard instructions, depicted an animal called a merry fellow (fig. below)

About her animal, she wrote the following: "A cheerful, kind, cute animal. Its name speaks about it. It lives in a country of laughter. In this country, one cannot be sad, cry. The merry fellow helps everyone to have fun, comes up with various funny games, activities, stories."
Anxiety appeared in the drawing (shading, especially large ears); possible fears (large blackened eyes). In the story, as one might assume, the girl's own attitude is expressed in order not to allow herself to be sad ("one cannot be sad in this country"). Apparently, she, like her character, usually tries to distract herself from her negative experiences. There is no aggressive theme in the drawing or in the story.
In the image of an evil and terrible animal, the symbolism of physical aggression is presented very moderately: these are claws drawn with strong pressure. However, the symbolism of verbal aggression is clearly expressed in it: a huge mouth with underlined (shaded) teeth.
The story reads as follows: "The Scarecrow lives in a country of fear. He is very harmful, loves to lie, avoids everyone, and at full moon nights he likes to scare everyone, this is his favorite pastime." The statement that the "scarecrow" likes to scare everyone, as well as the general appearance of the drawing, speaks of a tendency to verbal aggression.

FEAR OF AGGRESSION AND DEFENSIVE AGGRESSION

In addition to the level of their own aggressiveness, the drawing of a non-existent animal shows an attitude towards possible aggression from others. Fear of attack leads to the desire to protect the invented animal. As protection, a shell, scales, armor, especially thick skin can be depicted (it may not be in the picture, but it is described in the story). The image of quills, like those of a porcupine, or thorns is very widespread. An example is an animal called a dragon (fig. below). He has two arms, six legs, thorns on his body, "so that no one bites him," and numerous bites, depicted as circles with a dot in the center.

Grisha spoke about the lifestyle of the animal as follows: "He lives in the mountains, in a cave. Only he has already died. This is a dinosaur. He loves meat, a lot of meat, he loves to eat." When asked what this animal eats, the boy replied: "Other dragons and people that were a long time ago." When asked to describe the size of the animal, he said that the dragon was "terrible, and big, and huge; like three houses." When asked about friends, an unequivocal answer followed: "No. One lives." Dinosaurs were named as enemies. When the inspector asked what this animal likes to do, Grisha replied: "Eat." When asked to name any other favorite activities of the animal, the boy said: "Fight, bite," and when asked about what he does not like, he said: "Eating stones." It also turned out that the "dragon" was afraid "that he would be eaten and that huge stones would be thrown at him." The inspector asked who could do this, and Grisha explained: "There are dinosaurs even bigger than him."
Three wishes of the "dragon": "To be great"; "So that they don't eat him, so that they don't throw stones at him"; "To have friends."
Regarding the first desire, the inspector expressed some surprise: "He's already very big." "No, little one," Grisha answered. "It is necessary that he be the most."
The state of anxiety is also diagnosed by the image of a non-existent animal (greatly enlarged). Depressive symptoms did not appear in the drawing, but were reflected in the story: this is the theme of death ("only he has already died").
Based on the drawing and the story, one can more specifically determine the nature of Grisha's anxious fears. This is, first of all, the fear of aggression: the animal is afraid "to be eaten and to throw stones at it"; his desire is "so that they don't eat him, so that they don't throw stones at him"; despite the thorns, it's all bitten. The image of bites, like any wounds, is an expressive sign of a neurotic state.
Apparently, Grishina's fear of aggression is connected with his inability to communicate with peers. It is reflected in widely spaced hands with very large brushes (high unsatisfied need for communication), empty eyes. "Dragon" lives alone in a cave, he has no friends, one of the desires is to have friends. The theme of eating stones is also typical of communication disorders.
The fear of aggression is characterized by a description of the gigantic size of the animal (in Grisha it is "huge, like three houses") and the desire to become even larger ("it is necessary that it be the largest"). At the same time, the drawing itself can be large (as in this case), or it can be small, so that the theme of gigantic size occurs only in the story.
In the story, Grisha repeatedly tries to oppose the aggression of the dragon himself depicted by him to an external threat. He is "terrible", eats "other dragons and humans", loves to "fight, bite". This manifests a tendency to defensive aggression (the desire to defend oneself through an attack). However, judging by the absence of truly aggressive accessories in the drawing and the extreme conciseness of the aggressive theme in the story (it only sounds in response to questions), this trend is not being realized.
A more pronounced propensity for defensive aggression is manifested in fourteen-year-old Ilya R. (Figure below). The "three-horned monster" depicted by him is completely covered with thorns. Along with this, he has five large sharp spikes on his back, which could be used not only for defense, but also for attack. The thorns themselves are also protected by thorns.

In the story, the themes associated with the fear of aggression are combined with the actual aggressive themes and with statements reflecting the feeling of loneliness: “This is a three-horned monster. It is very evil and eats everyone.
It is very large, about the size of an elephant. It is protected by thorns so that no one attacks it. He has one more mouth with teeth on his body. "From the answers to questions, it turns out that the three-horned monster lives in the forest, alone. He has no friends or enemies. When asked about whom it protects itself with thorns, if it has no enemies, Ilya replied: "For example, from a tiger."
Ilya reported that the animal would express the following desires:
"So that all the animals that he likes come to him; for example, he loves to eat rabbits"; "To look not scary, so that they would not be afraid of him; someone comes to him - and he eats"; "To make him have an eye from behind."
When asked why the three-horned monster had an eye from behind, the boy replied: "To see the prey." The desire to increase sensitivity is a characteristic sign of anxiety and fear. The motivation indicated by Ilya ("to see prey") reflects attempts to overcome fears using one of the psychological defense mechanisms - rationalization.
Parents brought Ilya to a psychological consultation with a complaint that he did not communicate with anyone. If, walking down the street, he sees one of his classmates, he tries to hide so as not to meet him, although, according to his parents, his classmates treat him well. Impaired not only communication with peers, but also communication with teachers. In particular, Ilya does not answer in class, although he copes well with all written work. All these complaints can be explained by a greatly increased anxiety and fear of aggression, on the basis of which a fear of any communication in general has developed. In Ilya's behavior, the parents did not notice a tendency to defensive aggression, which manifested itself in the test materials. This can be explained either by the fact that it is suppressed by fears, or simply by the absence of conflict situations in which it could be realized. The absence of conflicts is ensured by Ilya's tendency to exclude contacts, combined with a good attitude towards him from classmates.
Defensive aggression is not always so harmless. It is not uncommon for it to be actively manifested at the behavioral level. Despite the fact that the person himself perceives it as protective, in reality it can become ahead of the curve: expecting an attack (perhaps without any reason), a person rushes to attack first in advance.

NEUROTIC AGGRESSION

Neurotic aggression, like defensive aggression, is a response to an unfavorable external situation. However, this is a much more generalized reaction than defensive aggression: it is not directed directly at the source of a potential threat, but at the entire environment. In such cases, it is said that a person is angry at the whole world because of his failures. A sign of neurotic aggression in the "Non-existent animal" test is a combination of neurotic and aggressive manifestations. At the same time, the case is very common when in the original version of the test (simply a non-existent animal) there is only neurotic symptoms, and aggression is manifested in the drawing of an angry and scary animal (Fig. below).

Hatching with strong pressure indicates high anxiety and emotional tension. The special care of shading suggests that Valera is also distinguished by a high level of rigidity. The carefully underlined outline is evidence of a high level of control. An indicator of good control is also considered to be the image of a long neck.
Consequently, neurotic symptoms should not be particularly noticeable in the boy's behavior, since at the level of external manifestations they are inhibited due to increased self-control.
The story he wrote says: “My non-existent animal lives in the swamps. It is a flying turtle. It feeds on worms and algae. Its enemies are snakes and some people, and friends are fish and birds. Fleeing from danger, it takes off into the air and disappears in the blink of an eye."
This story has a typically neurotic theme. This is, firstly, an emotionally unpleasant place of life - a swamp (the indication that the animal lives in mud, in mud is also interpreted). Secondly, this is a mention of unpleasant food - worms (food with slugs, garbage, muck, etc. is interpreted similarly). And finally, for a neurotic state, certain types of fears are typical - neurotic fears. These include, in particular, the fear of small animals (insects, mice, etc.) and the fear of snakes. The presence of such fears can manifest itself when answering the question of what the animal is afraid of, or (as in this case) when describing its enemies. Valera's story also reflects unspecified disturbing fears ("escaping from danger ...").
Valera depicted the most evil and terrible animal in the form of a sea serpent with an open mouth (fig. above). He refused to give it a name. The figure shows signs of both defensive and active aggression. The former are represented by spikes (or ridges) on the back of the animal, the latter by an open, toothy mouth (a sign of verbal aggression) and sharp tusks. The signs of anxiety, emotional tension, rigidity and high control noted in the first figure also persist.
There is an aggressive theme in the story, but in a rather moderate expression: "My animal lives in the depths of the ocean. It feeds on sharks and other large fish. It reaches a length of 20 meters. Sometimes it attacks ships. His friends are the same as him, and he has no enemies (there has not yet been found such an animal that would overcome him).
It seems that Valera is more inclined not to real aggression, but to demonstrating an aggressive position in order to scare off a possible enemy. This position of his is associated with a neurotic state that creates a general feeling of discomfort and an indefinite threat emanating from the outside world.
A significantly different impression is produced by the drawing of an "evil and terrible" animal, the name of which the author did not come up with a name for (Fig. below).

About this animal, she wrote: "The food of this monster is land animals. With his long arms, he gets them out of the ground. It also poses a danger to animals. It sucks blood from them with its sharp stings."
This time, both neuroticism and aggression were clearly manifested. The whole drawing is painted over with an even gray tone, some parts of the drawing are erased and redone. These are signs of high anxiety. There is a desire to protect themselves from a possible threat (thorns on the body and on the tail).
A gross distortion of the shape of the eyes (in this case, their transformation into aggressive points) is one of the indicators of neuroticism. Neuroticization also manifested itself in a sharp change in the style of description. If the description of a simply non-existent animal is made quite literary, with detailed phrases, then when describing an evil and terrible animal, chopped, extremely simplified phrases are used; coordination is violated, gross errors of attention appear ("the food of this monster is ...").
The description of such a way of feeding as sucking the blood of victims is often found in people prone to neurotic aggression. Aggressive symbolism is also represented by sharp stings, pointed eyes, forked claws at the ends of the hands. The tip also ends with a tail. As already noted, a massive tail pulled up is a sexual symbol. Therefore, it can be assumed that in the perception of a girl, sexuality is closely related to aggression. In the drawing of a simply non-existent animal, the tail, although it is present, is by no means as massive as that of an evil and terrible animal. Manifestations of aggressiveness in Luda's drawing of an evil and terrible animal significantly exceed the level typical for girls of her age. They are combined with signs of neuroticism, which makes it possible to qualify aggressiveness as neurotic. There are no such manifestations in the drawing made according to the standard instructions. This suggests that Luda's neurotic aggression is not constant, but arises in response to emotional stress.

RESPONSE TO EMOTIONAL LOAD

The standard instruction ("draw a nonexistent animal") is emotionally neutral. In additional tasks, topics appear that can potentially be emotionally taxing. The proposal to come up with "the most evil and terrible animal" actualizes the fears and concerns associated with an external threat. The task to draw "the most unfortunate animal" is addressed to negative experiences associated with one's own internal state. Therefore, a comparison of the results of the performance of these three variants of the task makes it possible to identify the reaction of the subject to different types of emotional stress.
Tatyana N., according to the standard instructions, depicted an animal called "pancake" (fig. below).

About her animal, she said the following:
"It is a type of flat living matter. It moves with the help of small legs. There are no sense organs. Should I tell you how it reproduces? No way. How does the Lord God release them ... - but there is no activity of its own. ... there is no point in its existence". When asked what this animal eats, Tatyana replied: "Water. He lives in the forest. Water drips - and it has enough nutrients that he needs."
The figure shows high anxiety (hatching, multiple lines). The main theme of the story is the passivity of the animal. Along with the extremely low detail of the drawing, this suggests an asthenic condition. There is also a lack of meaning in life. Apparently, Tatyana's need for the meaning of life is acutely unsatisfied, which indicates a certain infantility (this problem is typical for early adolescence). The story presents a detailed verbose departure from the topic of reproduction. Although the examiner did not ask any questions on this topic, the girl seems to ask again: “Should I tell you how it breeds?”, After which almost half of the story is devoted to explaining that this animal does not breed at all. This speaks of trouble in the sexual sphere, leading to attempts to avoid it.
Symptoms similar to Tanina's (with the exception of the attitude to the sexual sphere and the problem of the meaning of life) are found in the drawings of Anya K., 4 years 8 months old. For her age, Anya is very well developed. The non-existent animal depicted by her in terms of performance corresponds to the age of 6-7 years (Fig. below).

Anya named her animal Galya and said that it lives in a zoo, in a cage. To prevent the cage from falling, it has props above and below. Anya also explained that "he has food there - hay, straw." When asked what Galya usually does, the answer was received: "Eats and sleeps. It still remembers how it lived with its parents, and does everything like they do." It turned out that sometimes Galya goes out for a walk, and then returns to the cage.
In the drawing and the story, increased anxiety is manifested: the shading of the drawing, the desire to provide the animal with maximum safety (props) and a supply of food (two haystacks). Life in a cage (moreover, so carefully drawn) reflects both the need for security and the feeling of one's lack of freedom, dependence. The story directly indicates the source of this dependence: the patterns set by the parents ("does everything as they do"). For Anya's age, such topics are not typical, but in this case there is a combination of a faster pace of mental development with strong overprotection. Anya is the only child in a family that includes, in addition to her parents, her grandparents; all four adults actively participate in her upbringing.
The drawing of an angry and terrible animal showed acute anxiety, a neurotic reaction to an emotional load. This is evidenced by the complete decay of the form (Fig. above).

Drawing vertical strokes, Anya says: "These are the teeth!". About the drawn animal, she says: “He lives in the sea and eats everyone. No, he doesn’t eat strong fish. He doesn’t eat a shark. And he doesn’t eat dolphins.” When asked who this animal eats, the girl replies: "Small", and shows with her hands a size of approximately 10 cm. In an effort to get away from the unpleasant, frightening image of an all-devouring creature, the action of psychological defense mechanisms is manifested.
The neurotic reaction to the emotional load is clearly manifested in the drawing of the most unfortunate animal. According to these instructions, Anya drew a "fish" that "lives in an aquarium" (fig. below).

In response to the question why this fish is unhappy, the girl explained: "For herself she is happy, but for us she is unhappy, because she swims in gas. If you swim in gas, you can die, but she does not know this."
In contrast to the drawing of an evil and terrible animal, this time depressive symptoms were clearly manifested: a decrease in the size of the drawing, the theme of death in the story. The emotional tension is very high, as evidenced by the chaotic lines and strokes in the drawing, the blackening of some of its sections (the pattern on the body of the fish, an unexplained spot next to it).
The data obtained allow us to conclude that Anya has a very low resistance to stress. Depending on the nature of stressful influences, neurotic reactions of various kinds can be expected: the appearance of either acute anxiety or depression. The probability of their combination is also very high - the occurrence of anxious depression.
The desire to isolate their animals from the outside world (cage, aquarium) and a neurotic reaction to aggressive topics serve as indirect indications of the fear of aggression. This assumption is confirmed by the parents' complaint that they do not communicate with other children at all. Having met with a peer, she begins to growl at him (claiming that she is a tiger cub), and if he still tries to make contact, she runs away. Generally speaking, game transformation into animals is absolutely normal and natural for Anya's age. However, in this case, playing tiger cub is clearly a means of preventing contact.
Parents are advised to gradually accustom Anya to independence and reduce the level of guardianship. It is also important to reduce the number of requirements for it. To overcome difficulties in contacts with peers, it is proposed to teach Anya to communicate with one or two partners during the game, organized and directed by adults. It is explained that all educational activities should be carried out very carefully so as not to cause stress in the girl. For the same reason, no abrupt unprepared changes in her lifestyle are unacceptable. Emotional preparation for school is recommended to start very early and, despite the high level of development, not to send Anya to school until she is seven years old.

SIGNS OF POSSIBLE MENTAL PATHOLOGY

The following are some of the signs that make it possible to suspect a mental illness in the subject. None of them, taken in isolation, can serve as a basis for such an assumption. It can be done only if there are several such signs at the same time, and they are quite strongly expressed. The animal depicted by twelve-year-old Sergey B. is humanoid, which is quite usual for this age. At the same time, the shape of the head is grossly distorted in comparison with the standard scheme. Distortion of the shape of the head, as well as the absence of a head or, as in this case, the absence of eyes, while maintaining the general scheme of a person or animal, is often found in mental illness.

The animal is depicted as if in a section or in the form of an X-ray photograph: according to Seryozha, "the brain, muscles, bones, intestines, all sorts of disgusting things" are visible. The image of the internal organs can also be found in a borderline state (neurosis), but such a detailed study of them, and especially the image of the brain, is more likely in a mental illness.
In the story about the animal, Seryozha said that it "lives in the forests, where you can hide from opponents." When asked who his opponents were, he replied: "People. Or rather, he is their opponent." The next question was asked about what this animal usually does. "He eats all sorts of people," said Seryozha. It turned out that this animal thinks about "who else to eat, where to organize an ambush." Answering the question about what this animal could ask the magician, Seryozha said that it would "devour the magician", "wants not to be killed" and "to kill more on its own".
In the story, there is an exceptionally strong "stuck" on the theme of killing and devouring victims, primarily people. This may be a manifestation of the distortion of drives, characteristic of some mental illnesses. From this point of view, the discrepancy between the roughly aggressive theme of the story and the lack of pronounced aggressive symbolism in the drawing is especially suspicious. Normal aggression associated with immediate emotional impulses is usually much more pronounced in graphic symbols.
Gross violations of logic in the story about the animal also speak of the possibility of mental illness. Life "in the forests where you can hide from opponents" contradicts the main occupation of the animal - hunting for people. Eating a wizard makes it pointless to address him with subsequent requests ("so that he is not killed" and "to kill more yourself").
The presence of a mental illness in Serezha was confirmed by other data from a psychological examination and a subsequent psychiatric examination.
An animal depicted according to standard instructions by fifteen-year-old Andrei R. and called by him "half-human" (fig. below), gives a rather unpleasant impression, which is an unfavorable sign (although such an assessment is very subjective).

There is a pronounced aggressive symbolism: something like sharp claws instead of hands. However, the drawing does not contain obvious signs of pathology.
The boy's description of the animal is also quite neutral: "Half-human. Lives on other planets. Feeds on microorganisms. Friends are creatures like themselves." At the request to explain certain details of the image, Andrey pointed to a large claw with the words: "Such a hand is a way of protection." When asked if the demihuman had enemies, the answer was negative. Then the question was asked, from whom he needs to defend himself, to which the boy replied: "You never know who will fly from another planet."
The presence of a claw, necessary for protection, contradicts the assertion that the animal has no enemies (the explanation of a possible invasion from another planet is given only after a special question from the inspector and sounds unconvincing). However, this cannot be considered a particularly gross logical contradiction that would suggest the presence of a mental illness.
The emotional load caused by the task to invent and draw the most unfortunate animal led to significant impairment of activity. The drawing made according to this instruction was left unfinished, with an open outline (Fig. below).

In the process of drawing, sharp emotional swings were observed, reflected in the very different nature of the lines. The body, eyes and mouth are drawn with a confident line with strong pressure. The arms are also partially drawn with strong pressure, but the line is uncertain (with numerous corrections). The head, neck and part of the arm are drawn with a very uncertain, in some places disappearing line with especially weak pressure. The number of details is minimal, but in contrast to this, the knuckles are drawn (a detail that is very rare).
Such a strong reaction to the emotional load speaks of Andrey's unfavorable psychological state. An unfavorable sign is also an almost disappearing distorted contour of the head, especially in combination with sharply emphasized empty eyes and mouth, so that the whole face resembles a skull.
Andrei wrote the following story about an unfortunate animal (the text is reproduced with spelling errors made by a boy): "Mutant. A man of a post-nuclear civilization with degraded thinking. He sees an almost ordinary way of life of a person, but with the habits of an animal. Friends are people. He has immeasurable muscle mass." When asked what his “unhappiness” was, the boy replied: “His appearance upsets him. He doesn’t look like people, he has changed. People treat him differently.” Then the question was asked, what are the "habits of the animal", about which he wrote in the story. Andrei replied: "Maybe he can climb a tree. Sometimes he thinks about one thing, and then switches to another. He forgets something."
Themes of animal change, strange attitudes of others (“people treat differently”) and mental disorders (degraded thinking, unmotivated switching of the direction of thoughts, forgetting) are often found in process mental illnesses. The previously noted signs of a high emotional load when depicting a head echo the theme of degraded thinking. For mental illness, inaccuracy in the use of concepts is also typical, in this case manifested in the fact that “animal habits” include such manifestations as “thinks about one thing and switches to another”, “forgets”.
The presence of a mental illness in Andrei was confirmed by a subsequent psychiatric examination.
The drawing, made according to standard instructions by sixteen-year-old Pavel P., is not completed. It represents a three-eyed bird's head with a long sharp beak (aggressive symbolism). The head is located on a very long neck with detailed vertebrae. The contour is not closed (fig. below).

The story written by Pavel is very short and almost does not refer to the depicted animal: "He has hearing aids, he listens with them, he is blind. Everything that the imagination creates is strange, like fantasy."
Warning signs in the drawing are its incompleteness and the image of the internal organs (vertebrae). In the story, there is an actual departure from the task: instead of describing the lifestyle of an animal, Paul sets out his views on the nature of images created by the imagination. An unfavorable sign is also a contradiction between the drawing and the story (the drawing shows several eyes, and the story says that the animal is blind). More obvious signs of pathology appear in the drawing of an evil and terrible animal (fig. below).

The most unfavorable impression is made by the absence of a head in the image, which otherwise fully corresponds to the standard scheme of the animal. In a story about this animal, Pavel wrote: "This animal is from another world - the world of monsters. It seems harmless ... But ... It is able to stun any moving object with a sound wave. After that, small tentacles suck out all living tissues and organs from the body. When in the form of a man, it barks like a dog, and then ... Aliluya! .. ".
The sucking out of "living tissues and organs" as a way of nutrition is a sign of a disturbed psychological state (pathological or borderline). As already mentioned, such signs include the discrepancy between the high aggressiveness of the story and the absence of pronounced aggressive symbolism in the drawing. The message that at the sight of a person this animal “barks like a dog” completely falls out of the general context of the story.
All these signs in the aggregate are too numerous and heterogeneous to be explained only by a borderline (neurotic) state. One possible explanation is the combination of a neurotic state with a psychopathic personality. Another likely explanation is the presence of mental illness.
Pronounced signs of mental illness (in the acute phase) are observed in the drawing of twelve-year-old David G. (Figure below).

The animal depicted by him is devoid of a head. The paws of the animal are pierced with arrows in several places. Apparently, this reflects the extremely difficult self-perception of the boy. In any case, the image of wounds and mutilations is one of the common signs of mental illness. The graphic features of the drawing also testify to the acuteness of David's condition: hatching with especially strong pressure, blackening of individual parts of the image.
In the process of drawing, David was completely immersed in the activity, but at the verbal level, contact with him remained limited. He refused to tell anything about the animal he invented and did not even come up with a name for it.
A huge wound is the center of the drawing of fourteen-year-old Vitya K. (fig. below).

The commentary he wrote also refers only to this wound, although he was asked to write the name of the animal and describe its lifestyle. The text is very short and emotionally extremely unpleasant: "The stomach was cut open, but it is alive, blood flows out of it." Thus, the text contains an indication that the source of the wound is someone's actions ("the stomach was torn open"). It is possible that this reflects the boy's pathological ideas about the hostility of others towards him (perhaps the ideas of persecution).
The drawing is not completed. The lines are "torn", in some places with strong pressure, and in some places disappearing. The drawing is poorly placed: it seems to go beyond the bottom edge of the sheet. Along with meaningful indicators, this is a sign of the severity of the condition.
Eyes located outside the face are also an unfavorable sign.
Vitya is recommended to consult a psychiatrist.